‘We feel like winners:’ P.E.I. residents highlight eco-friendly gift and decoration ideas to help the planet
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The Christmas vacation season could be a wasteful time of yr in P.E.I.
With hundreds of residents tearing open items wrapped in plastic-sealed paper and ribbons over the vacations, waste piles up rapidly. However some P.E.I. residents have give you eco-friendly present and ornament concepts that give again to nature.
Compostable items
With Christmas being a really wasteful time in lots of households, providing inexperienced options to chop down on waste is one thing entrepreneur John Potter stated he takes satisfaction in.
“We’re at all times attempting to determine methods to not throw issues out, and significantly this time of yr it’s essential,” Potter informed SaltWire Community on Dec. 20.
“It’s a enjoyable expertise.”
Potter says the enterprise he co-owns, Kuriosities Jewellery on Victoria Row in Charlottetown, has provided selfmade Christmas playing cards woven with plant seeds for a number of years, one thing that acts a double present.
“While you’re finished giving the cardboard, you possibly can rip it up, throw it in your backyard or you possibly can take the entire card, put it in a pot and ultimately you’ll get wildflowers,” stated Potter.
“You get two items in a single, it’s a win-win,” he stated.
The compostable playing cards have develop into fairly standard with the general public through the years. They embrace various kinds of seeds, starting from wildflowers to basil and thyme.
Kuriosities additionally carries locally-sourced natural candles, cleaning soap and jewellery. When delivery merchandise, Potter makes use of waste from previous packages.
“We’re at all times reusing packaging in order that it will get two issues despatched someplace versus only one,” stated Potter.
Recycled decorations
Recycled supplies may also be used to make decorations.
This yr, the Souris And Space Department of the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation created a float for the annual Souris Christmas parade on Dec. 3, with a show constructed utilizing 100 per cent recycled waste.
Supervisor Brittany Talarico informed SaltWire Community on Dec. 20 all of the waste was collected from P.E.I. seashores, trails and roadside ditches.
“It was the most cost effective float Souris Wildlife ever made. All we had to purchase was glue weapons and glue sticks,” stated Talarico.
Many P.E.I. seashores have been closely littered after post-tropical Fiona. Talarico spent two months gathering all the materials she might discover to make decorations for the float.
A few of this decor included tin cans strung along with previous fishing wire to make garlands, making a tree out of driftwood and styrofoam — and even utilizing tampons to make ornaments.
“That waste would have both develop into microplastics if not picked up or it might simply enter into the water stream,” stated Talarico.
“It was unbelievable to suppose every part that was put collectively earlier than was simply trash.”
– Brittany Talarico
The hope with the float was to point out to the general public the quantity of fabric present in P.E.I. pure websites, and the way that trash will be given new life, particularly in the course of the holidays.
“We’re feeling actually nice about it. We obtained a lot suggestions from the group on how unimaginable it was,” stated Talarico
“We really feel like winners.”
Avoiding black bin
Island Waste Administration Company, IWMC, labored with the provincial authorities to launch its annual Christmas recycling information on Dec. 14.
Jenny Richard, engagement officer with IWMC informed SaltWire Community on Dec. 20 it’s essential to kind by means of wrapping paper and present luggage earlier than throwing it out, as some wrapping papers will be composted.
“If there’s a shiny coating on the bag, it’s waste. If the present bag is made out of brown paper with paper handles, then it’s recyclable,” stated Richard.
Tin foil plates, steel cookie tins and stringed Christmas lights are additionally recyclable, and must be positioned in blue luggage and positioned on the curb throughout assortment days.
Branches from pretend bushes are to go within the waste, except the framework is steel, during which case it must be recycled. Actual wreaths are thought of waste except utterly dismantled, during which case the inexperienced materials will be composted.
All of that stated, reusing wherever doable can be the message IWMC needs to ship to the general public.
“It’s at all times finest to reuse the place you possibly can so you would additionally put it aside for subsequent yr,” stated Richard.
Rafe Wright is a Native Journalism Initiative reporter, a place coated by the federal authorities. He writes about local weather change points for the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island and will be reached by e mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @wright542.
