Gifts Wrapped in a Beautiful Message: Our Earth Matters

STORY BY ANNE REYNOLDS // PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN KELLY // STYLING BY QUELCY KOGEL

Americans add approximately four million tons of gift wrap to landfill in just the last quarter. This is a statistic we can change by following “the three Rs.”

Reduce: Instead of using layers of wrapping paper that is discarded seconds after opening, let your gift speak for itself with minimal wrapping. Add a thoughtful, handmade tag with a personalized message. Garnish naturally with sprigs of greenery, a pinecone, or even found bird feathers. 

Re-use: It’s time to rethink single-use items, like traditional wrapping paper. Enter furoshiki - the zero-waste Japanese art of wrapping with fabric that can be used again and again. Take this a step further by wrapping your gift in a secondary gift: a tea towel, a cloth napkin, even a scarf that the recipient can reuse.

Recycle: Give a second life to newspaper, an old map, pages from a tattered book, or even a brown paper bag. Create bands of contrasting papers for rich visual effects. Ecoprint with floral waste or windfall botanicals. Save ribbon and scraps of yarn all year round and deploy them now in braids or single strands. Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (pccr.org) provides a veritable trove of found and donated materials. Remember not to add glitter, sparkles, plastics, or other non-recyclable elements: these create downstream consequences that are easily avoided.

pccr.org

Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, 214 N. Lexington St, Pittsburgh

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