Year after year, landfills receive more and more waste and this increase is accentuated during the holiday season. 

At Tero, we firmly believe in taking advantage of this festive period to spoil our loved ones, but also the planet. That’s why we’ve compiled some simple tips for you to apply on a daily basis throughout your holiday preparations to reduce your environmental footprint.

A red and … green holiday season! Are you ready? 

The Decorations

When it comes to the holiday season, it's all about decorating the interior and exterior of your home to set the mood. Here are a few tips you can apply to decorate responsibly.

Natural or artificial? Choose the right tree

According to the research firm Ellipsos, natural trees remains a more eco-responsible option than its artificial alternative. Why? Mainly because you would have to keep your artificial tree for more than 20 years to offset its carbon footprint. In this case, the best option would be to go to a merchant or a local farm to get a natural tree. Besides, why not reuse the artificial tree from your childhood or the one lying around in the attic of one of your neighbours to decorate your home? That’s even better!

Reference: balsamhill.com

Brighter Lighting

An important element of holiday decorations remains the indispensable decorative lights. From a sustainable perspective, we advise you to turn them off at night in order to reduce their energy consumption. Also, opt for LED lights, they are less energy-consuming, more durable, more resistant and safe.

Handmade Ornaments

Once you’ve chosen the tree, it’s time to decorate it. A great family activity is to create your own ornaments, taking inspiration from different recipes: salt paste, dried citrus slices or pine cones can quickly become your best friend to create original decorations.

Reference: ispydiy.com

Yummy Food

Holiday meals are a great opportunity to indulge and share when circumstances allow. However, one can quickly end up with a very large amount of food. What to do with the leftovers?

Extend Meals

At the end of the evening, you can repatriate leftover stuffed eggs, bacon sausage and meat pie in reusable plastic containers that will serve as a lunch box. The perfect idea to treat yourself again the next morning for breakfast, midday or once again for dinner!

Give Food a Second Life

If your fridge is still full of leftover food at the end of the night, you can easily reuse it for something else. For example, it is possible to make broths with your peels, crisps with your potato peels or even a cleaner with your citrus peels. The possibilities are endless!

Choose Local

A great way to responsibly prepare holiday meals is to use local, seasonal, and sometimes even organic foods on your menu. In December, several vegetables are in the spotlight and can enhance your pièce de resistance: carrots, leeks, turnips, squash, etc. Also, more and more alternatives based on vegetable proteins exist to replace meat pies and turkey. Try it out! 

Recover Your waste

Obviously, an efficient and fast way to recycle your table waste remains the alternative of composting at home or soon, the use of the Tero. This one accepts almost all your leftovers from the festive menu: vegetables, fruits, raw and cooked meat, coffee grounds to lift it up at the end of the evening. In addition, it can be used even in winter! If you still don’t have your Tero, you can then freeze any food that may be, such as pâtés or a yule log … or buy your device right now by clicking here.

Gifts

The holiday season is synonymous with generosity and giving and we always want to find the right thing to give to the people we love. At Tero, we invite you to prioritize family experiences and time. Despite everything, there are ways to give differently and in an eco-responsible way.  

Reinventing Greeting Cards

Giving a gift with a handwritten or handmade greeting card makes it all the more personal. It is possible to reduce your paper consumption by opting, for example, for the seeded cards of the company Flowerink, which we discuss in another article. If not, why not make your own greeting cards with scraps of paper or cardboard found at home?

Be Organized

When you get started with holiday shopping, you can quickly get carried away. One trick to avoiding overconsumption and impulse buying is to make a list of what you really need. Also, consider choosing useful and eco-responsible options, encouraging businesses in Quebec and leaning towards an activity rather than an object. Are you lacking inspiration? Check out our article for gift ideas.

Alternative Packaging

This year, Tero invites you to move away from disposable packaging and the usual gift wrap. A great way to reduce your waste is to opt for packaging made from materials that you already have on hand: newspaper, cereal boxes, shoe boxes, scraps of fabrics that are no longer needed, etc. Companies like Simons even offer to use beautiful linens or napkins which, in addition to being used as packaging, can then be used every day … and next year!

Reference: Simons.ca

Reuse Rather Than Buy

What could be more fun than an exchange of gifts? Instead of opting to buy new gifts, an alternative is to bring out a little something that you no longer use, but that will certainly please a loved one. Otherwise, pay it forward by offering food or items to La Guignolée, Moisson Québec or any other organization that helps people in need.

All these tips and tricks will allow you to do your part for the environment by adopting small, simple and eco-responsible daily habits. It’s time to transition into a greener, but equally magical, holiday season. The planet will thank you.

The entire Tero team wishes you a wonderful holiday season!

By: Claudia Larose