The holiday season may be the most wonderful time of the year for many of us, but it’s also one of our most wasteful. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of waste produced by households in the United States can increase by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Further analysis conducted by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2021 backs up those numbers, estimating that Americans create 5.8 million tons more waste in December than other months. That’s equivalent to the weight of 28,713 Boeing 747 airplanes.

It’s not just the US, though. Look up the stats for many other countries and they tell similar stories—in fact Canada and the UK fare a little worse. The good news is there are things that can be done, and as much as 80 percent of this waste can be reused, repurposed, or recycled.

From gifts and wrapping paper to decorations and food, there are many changes you can make if you’re trying to be more waste-conscious. If you don’t know where to start, WIRED has you covered.

Wrapping Paper Dos and Don’ts

Whatever you wrap your presents in, it's probably getting tossed, so this is a big source of waste. The easiest rule to follow for gift bags and wrapping paper is that simple is better. That means no glitter and no foil. Wrapping paper that's recyclable should be labeled as such these days, but the “crumple test” will help if you're unsure. Crush the paper into a ball, and if it stays crumpled when you let go, it’s likely recyclable. If it bounces back, it’s made of mixed materials and probably can’t be recycled.

If you’re ever in doubt, you really can’t go wrong with brown paper. It’s an affordable but also nostalgic addition to your present pile and can be dressed up with bows (steady on, read below) or even hand-decorated with drawings or stamps for that personal touch.

You could even save the wrapping after opening this year's presents and use it again next year. In fact, if every family in the US wrapped just three presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields, according to the WWF. Old newspapers or magazines or even fabric could work well; get some inspiration for the latter from furoshiki, the traditional Japanese art of fabric wrapping.

Of course, if you're not much of a wrapper, or short on time, saving and reusing gift bags that were given to you is also a great and easy way to reduce waste.

Reuse Bows and Ribbons, or Try Something New

The shiny bows and plastic ribbons that may have adorned your presents as a kid really aren’t going to cut it if a waste-free holiday is your goal. They can’t be recycled so they will only end up in landfill. Even a lot of fabric ribbon falls into this category too. So what are your options?

Of course, if you carefully collect and reuse bows and ribbons, that’s a good start. Research from Stanford University found that if every family reused two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could wrap around the whole planet. But there are better options.

For example, instead of a ribbon, use compostable twine or string with a cutting—a sprig of holly, a clipping of eucalyptus, or the branch of a fir—tucked into it. It's a rustic look that will hold up even if you wrap things well in advance. Alternatively, slip in something less hardy, like flowers or berries, just before you dish out the gifts.

Don’t Forget Tape!

The last thing you want to do is to make all these adjustments and ruin it by using standard plastic tape that can’t be recycled. Sellotape now offers a plastic-free version of its famous tape, which is 100 percent plant-based and fully compostable. Alternatively, consider paper-based options like washi tape. These often come in pretty patterns too, which can also help to jazz up plainer brown paper.

Send Fewer Cards—or Go Digital

If you’ve got a family that’s big on holiday cards, this can be a hard habit to break, but there are around 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold every year in the US, and sending one card less each would save 50,000 cubic yards of paper, according to Stanford University.

It helps that there are now fantastic digital options that can be sent to friends and family via email, eliminating waste entirely—and can be sent at the last minute when it's too late to mail anything. Make the extra effort to discuss in advance with your loved ones about all of you going down the digital route for a greater environmental win.

If you can’t bear to upset family tradition, then just be sure to choose your cards as carefully as you choose your wrapping paper. Avoid glitter and foil, and look for cards that are labelled as recyclable. Even better—look out those that have been made from postconsumer recycled materials too. You can even buy cards that are embedded with seeds and can be planted!

Of course you only have control over the cards that you send out. If you receive some cards that aren’t recyclable, consider holding on to them and cutting them up to reuse the parts with holiday symbols as gift labels for next year.

Choose a Real Christmas Tree, if You Have One

It might seem counterintuitive, but even though real trees are only used once before you toss them, they create less waste than their artificial counterparts. That’s because a real tree can be completely recycled if disposed of correctly, and can be used for things like firewood, wood chippings, or compost.

Fake trees, on the other hand, are made of materials that can’t be recycled and are only heading to landfill once their time spreading Christmas joy is over. The Carbon Trust estimates you’d need to reuse an artificial tree between seven and 20 times (size dependent) to offset the carbon footprint generated by its manufacturing, packaging, and shipping. When you buy that real tree (if you haven't already) be sure to buy something grown locally, which is the more sustainable choice since it doesn't have to be shipped as far.

Go DIY on Decorations

When decorating your tree and your home, the same rules apply. Plastic and foil are no-nos, and getting creative is the best way to cut waste. For great DIY ideas, I will send you to YouTube, which is filled with DIY holiday decoration tutorials: paper garlands, hanging paper dreidels, salt dough ornaments, a DIY Kwanzaa kinara, and scores more. These decorations might not stand the test of time in storage, but they will be completely recyclable and compostable once the holidays end, meaning you can consciously switch up your color theme each year.

Store-bought holiday crackers—cardboard tubes that you pull on from both ends to pop open—should be avoided. They traditionally use shiny and glittery materials, which, just like with cards and wrapping paper, makes them non-recyclable. And that’s before you consider the terrible, often plastic gift inside that will usually find its way to the bin almost immediately.

Some Christmas and Hanukkah cracker manufacturers are doing better here, with recyclable materials and gifts that might actually be useful, but there are still better choices if going waste free is your goal. Consider investing in the kits that can be reused every year, or go full DIY and make your own using scraps of leftover wrapping paper and a couple of toilet paper rolls. There are tutorials galore on YouTube to get you started.

Minimize Your Energy Waste

Twinkling lights are a huge part of the picture perfect holiday scene many of us imagine when we think of the festive period. NASA has even observed that parts of the Earth are up to 50 percent brighter between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day because of our holiday illumination habits.

The reality is that those pretty lights aren't quite so pretty. In the United States alone, the energy used by Christmas lights adds up to around 6.6 billion kilowatt hours—enough to power 14 million refrigerators and more than the yearly electricity consumption of developing countries like El Salvador and Nepal.

To minimize your impact (not to mention your bill), first switch to LEDs if you haven’t already. They can reduce energy costs by as much as 90 percent compared to incandescent bulbs.

Next, consider plugging your lights into a smart plug, so you can set exact times for them to be on and off. Never again will you head off to bed without forgetting to switch them off. Your neighbors might thank you, too.

Don’t Buy Too Much Food

The holidays are famously a time for overindulgence, but with food waste the single largest component of solid waste in US landfills, it’s on us to shop more carefully.

Try using the Save the Food’s Guest–imator to give you a good idea of what you should be buying for your family’s big festive meals. You can even include enough to make sure you're including those all-important leftovers in your calculations. Because let’s be honest, the holidays are the holidays without putting a full meal between two slices of bread at some point.

Do a freezer check before you start your shopping list. You may have things already in stock that you don’t need to double up on, or dig out previously frozen meals that will keep you fed during Twixmas. And clearing out the freezer helps you make way for any holiday leftovers.

If you’d rather use those leftovers sooner, there are plenty of ways to give them a second life after the main event. If you eat meat, the turkey carcass can be used to make soups and stock (along with any fruit and veg peelings), and you can cook leftover meat and veggies into a pie, curry or pasta dish. Our colleagues at Bon Appétit have some great suggestions to give you some inspiration.

Of course, if you find yourself with an excess of tins and sealed foods at the end of the holidays, you can get in touch with your local food bank to find out if they can accept it.

Gift Mindfully

We have all received a gift that isn’t really our thing. We’ve all given a gift we weren’t really sure was their thing. As much as we all love to give presents over the holidays, the process feels like it’s gotten broken along the way, with a report from online bank Finder predicting Americans will spend $10.1 billion on unwanted gifts this holiday season. That’s a lot of waste.

Firstly, if you’re stuck for good ideas, WIRED’s Gift Guides are a great place to start, with inspiration for all of the different people in your life. While you’re at it, check out The WIRED 101 for the best products across different categories as tested and chosen by our editors. If you know the person you’re buying for needs something specific—be that a new toothbrush, pair of headphoness, or a skillet—you won’t go wrong with these recommendations.

However, if buying less stuff in general is on your to-do list there are other ways to go. Consider organizing a family Secret Santa with family and friends, to help reduce consumption and holiday spending in well fell swoop. Making jams, chutneys, or cookies for friends and family offers a great personal touch to a holiday gift, or choose an experience that they’ll love—tickets to a show, or a meal at their favorite restaurant perhaps—as those things can’t ever be wasted.

If you’re clearing out in advance of the holidays, be sure to donate things you no longer need, and if you do head to the shops, to take your totes and reusable bags with you to keep those plastic bags from piling up!