The holiday season is upon us, which means that gifts will be exchanged and received. With all of these gifts comes an abundant amount of wrapping paper. Wrapping paper is a strong and decorative paper made for wrapping gifts. For the most part, wrapping paper can be recycled. However, some local authorities don’t accept wrapping paper for recycling. One reason they cannot accept wrapping paper is because wrapping paper is often dyed, laminated and/or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver colored shapes, glitter, plastics which cannot be recycled. Another reason they cannot accept wrapping paper is because some wrapping paper is very thin and contains few good quality fibers for recycling. Also, wrapping paper cannot be accepted because a lot of wrapping paper has sticky tape attached to it which makes it very difficult to recycle. Therefore, it is important to consider using alternatives to wrapping paper throughout this holiday season.
Some alternatives to wrapping paper include reusable fabric wrap, newspaper, and reusable wrapping bags. Reusable fabric wrap is fabric squares that are made from machine washable 100% organic cotton which can be reused in a wide variety of ways. These fabric squares come in various gorgeous and festive designs. Newspaper is a material that is frequently recommended for wrapping gifts. Newspapers are accessible and recyclable, which makes them more affordable and sustainable than typical wrapping paper. Finally, reusable wrapping bags is one of the easiest options for wrapping gifts and whoever receives the reusable wrapping bag will be able to use it for years and years. These alternatives to wrapping paper are very reliable and sustainable options that everyone should consider.
However, if you are unable to acquire these alternatives to wrapping paper, it is important to remove any sticky tape and decorations such as ribbons and bows before recycling because these cannot be recycled. Additionally, Wrapping paper can only be recycled if it passes the scrunch test, which means that simple paper wrap can be recycled but foil or glitter-decorated paper cannot. With this, I hope you open your options when it comes to wrapping paper this holiday season.