When October or December are close, social media fills with videos of sparkling lights, ceramic pumpkins, and festive decorations. The desire to refresh your room or apartment decor every year is real. However, fast fashion decor trends have an environmental effect.
Don’t alarm yourself, this isn’t about making you feel bad about the decorations you bought last year or about having items stored in your closet. In fact, preserving and reusing what you already have is the most sustainable decision possible. The goal is to reflect on our consumption habits, appreciate what we already own, and discover how to celebrate without filling the planet with single-use plastics.
To understand why it’s important to pause impulse purchases, it’s worth looking at the news. For example, on Halloween, approximately 83% of the costumes and plastic decorations are made from materials that aren’t recyclable. In point of fact, these materials can take between 20 and 200 years to decompose. In addition, many pounds of pumpkins go to landfills, generating methane gas as they break down. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, trash from homes in the United States increases by 25% to 30%, which equals 5.8 million extra of waste. More important is that the Christmas tree must be reused for 10 to 20 years to balance its carbon footprint compared to natural trees. Many people throw it away after two or three years to follow a new trend, which speeds up plastic waste.
Some people think that the sustainability lifestyle makes us believe we should throw away everything, and buy new “green” products. The truth is the opposite: the eco-friendly decorations are the ones you own. If you have lights or decorations from last year, keep using them each year to extend their lifespan, and avoid taking new natural resources. There’s no reason to feel bad for keeping decorations!
Another way to stay sustainable is by making your own decorations; they don’t need to be childish. With different items, you can create a cozy and nice style. Some examples of decorations are:
- Floating Ghosts (Halloween): Repurpose old fabrics hung on simple items made of recycled paper or cardboard.
- Decorations with Cardboard Rolls: Cut toilet paper or paper towel rolls into rings, glue them together to form flowers or snowflakes (for Christmas), or stick bat silhouettes on them (for Halloween).
- Shadow Figures for Windows: Use leftover cardboard from boxes to cut out silhouettes of witches, cats, or Christmas trees and stick them on your windows. When you turn on your light at night, you’ll create a shadow effect outside without using any extra energy.
Caring for the planet is powerful when we share ideas with friends and classmates. Therefore, we can help this cause by:
- Organizing a Decor Swap: Gather with friends or neighbors at the start of the season to trade decorations, costumes, or lights you no longer use.
- Zero-Waste Events: If you’re part of a university association, encourage them to replace glitter and balloons with dried leaf confetti or reusable fabric.
Reducing overconsumption during the holidays doesn’t mean losing the fun of decorating. It’s about showing our creativity by personalizing our space, and making careful choices. Every small change helps to build a sustainable future.