Tips for a Green Holiday

1. Use LED lights inside and out. You can recycle your old incandescent lights at Home Depot.

2. Shop locally.

3. Give the gift of experiences instead of "stuff". Give tickets to a play, sporting event, or concert. Go on a hike, take a vacation together, give a spa treatment. Be creative!

4. Use reusable items for parties, eg. real plates, glasses, napkins, and silverware.

5. Send evites for party invitations (evite.com) and email your holiday greetings.

6. Donate in a person's name, eg to World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, Westside Food Bank or Habitat for Humanity. 

7. Purchase gifts from  GoodShop, where up to 40% of your purchase price can be donated to your favorite charity at no extra charge to you. Not to mention lots of coupons. www.goodsearch.com/goodshop.

8. Make ornaments and gifts. Visit www.christmas.howstuffworks.com/decorations.

9. Buy organic items. Greenopia.com. lists resources.



The 4 R's are Reduce, Reuse,  Recycle, and Rethink

Reduce:
Reduce the use of paper, plastics, glass, etc. Even if these items are recycled, if they are contaminated, or a type that processors don't need, they go to landfills.  Thus, print only when needed, on both sides of the paper. Don't buy water in plastic or glass bottles: use a water filter at home and fill a reusabale container.

Reuse: 
Rinse out that plastic bag from the store and use it again if you need to bag something.
Use reusable bags instead of plastic and paper bags. 
Use reusable plates and napkins instead of plastic and paper.

Recycle:
Visit lacity.org/san to find out what to recycle and where.  Buy recycled products.  

Recycle both ewaste and hazardous waste at the UCLA SAFE Center. 550 Charles Young Drive, Th-Sat 8-noon.  Saturday only for hazardous waste. 
- Hazardous Waste: Batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, electronic devices and items containing mercury, household chemicals, paint, :paint thinners, cleaners and solvents, used oil, furniture polish. 
- E-waste includes computers, monitors, printers, cables, phones, tvs. microwaves, video games, cell phones, radios, stereos, VCRs, electronic toys. 

Rethink:
Rethink what's necessary in your life. Consume less. Give eco-friendly gifts. Visit www.thestoryofstuff.org.