Eco group gives tips on how to recycle Christmas food, gift boxes
Christmas is a season of giving. With the surplus of food and gifts, an environmental group says the holiday should not be spoiled by waste.
EcoWaste Coalition has reminded Filipinos that it is easy to repurpose, recycle and reuse gift containers and even leftover food from Christmas.
“Let us honor the child Jesus by spreading love not garbage on this special day. We can do simple steps to stop useful materials from reaching the dumps and getting wasted,” EcoWaste president Sonia Mendoza said on Friday.
Mendoza said one did not need “rocket science” to help reduce waste, only “creativity and common sense.”
EcoWaste Coalition listed down some of their tips for a waste-free Christmas:
1. Get creative with edible food leftovers, which can be recycled into amazing meals. To spread the Christmas cheer and avoid food wastage, consider sharing spare food with the poor, jobless and homeless, as well as with people servicing your neighborhood such as the village guards, garbage collectors, waste recyclers, etc.
2. Carefully unwrap Christmas gifts and save the bags, boxes, bows and ribbons and wrappers for the next gift-sharing occasion. Christmas wrappers can be repurposed as book and notebook covers, Origami crane, paper garland or as materials for school art and craft projects.
3. Save holiday greeting cards, gift labels, “ang pao” envelopes or red packets, which can be used as bookmarkers, or as Christmas tree, wreath and lantern decorations for the next celebration. Christmas cards can be made into new cards or gift tags.
4. Transform empty cans of pineapple juice and evaporated milk into improvised noisemakers to welcome the New Year. Fill the can with some bottle crowns, coins, keys or seeds and attach a wooden handle to make instant maracas. Tin cans can also be used as garden pots or hanging planters, or as containers for school and office supplies.
5. Reuse empty jars of cheese spread, fruit preserves and mayonnaise as containers for home-made achara (pickled green papaya), halayang ube (purple yam jam) and other holiday delicacies.
6. Save all other recyclable discards such as soda cans, plastic bottles, corrugated cardboard boxes, etc. to sell to junk shops or to give to itinerant waste pickers.
EcoWaste also called on Filipinos to keep their trash inside their homes until garbage collectors arrive.
“We hope that everyone will do their part to keep our communities glistening with safe Christmas lights and eco-friendly decorations, and not stinking due to abandoned mixed rubbish,” Mendoza said.
