Keeping the Holidays Merry and Sustainable.

• Position: RECYCLING

To promote sustainability and paper recycling, the Paper and Packaging Board (P+PB), Mc-Lean, Va., has released a series of tips that will help families and individuals prioritize recycling this holiday season when waste volumes are highest, as Americans generate 25% more waste than average between Thanksgiving and New Year's Dayequating to almost 1,000 pounds of trash per household.

To help ring in a sustainable holiday season:

* Reuse boxes from online delivery orders or paper gift bags as recycling bins, giving a full life cycle to every paper piece involved in a gift order.

* Choose forest-friendly products to deck the halls for your holiday gatherings. The paper industry replants nearly twice the amount of timber to replace what has been used.

* Gift versatile and sustainable paper-based presents, like books, coloring books, puzzles, or journals for your friends and family.

* Cushion gifts that are fragile or being shipped by using paper-based filler options like tissue, crinkle, or kraft paper.

* Repurpose holiday catalogs and magazines into festive wrapping for gifts. Tape multiple pages together to make a gift stand out.

* Recycle pizza boxes but check the local guidelines first to make sure they are accepted. Usually, such items are recyclable even with a little stuck-on grease and cheese.

"As we immerse ourselves in celebrating the holidays, we often forget to consider how our celebrations can impact the environment," says Mary Anne Hansan, president of P+PB. "We know that recycling paper is both simple and critical to the future of our planet, and families can realize that imperative and integrate sustainability into their holiday festivities."

EYE ON ECOLOGY

Strategy to Improve Recycling in the U.S.

"The public understands that recycling is a critical way to conserve natural resources and reduce waste, but they want a better U.S. recycling system, one that not only makes more things recyclable but is also easy to use and understand," says Keefe Harrison, CEO at The Recycling Partnership, a nongovernmental organization. 'That's why we call on all stakeholders involved in recycling to commit."

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