- Air Information
- Broadcast E-mail Lists
- Commissions and Boards
- Contact Us
- Energy
- Environmental Issues
- Grants and Loans
- Land and Geology Information
- News Releases
- Online Services
- Organizational Chart
- Preservation
- Report an Environmental Problem
- Rules in Development
- Small Business Assistance
- State Parks
- Water Information
News Release No. 381
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES URGES
WASTE REDUCTION FOR THE HOLIDAYS
|
Volume 32-381 |
Contact: Renee Bungart |
|
(For immediate release) |
573-751-4465 |
JEFFERSON CITY, MO, NOV. 15, 2004 - Careful planning during the purchase of holiday gifts can reduce the amount of related waste that ends up in the state's landfills, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. By following a few easy suggestions that focus on waste reduction, product reuse and recycling, consumers can be generous to both friends and family, and the environment.
To have an environmentally friendly holiday season, Missourians can:
- Buy gifts and products that are made of recycled materials. For example: clothing or other items made of recycled plastic bottles; or crafts and products made from scrap wood or reclaimed lumber.
- Buy toys that don't use batteries or buy rechargeable batteries to go with new electronic toys. Information on disposing of batteries is available on www.rbrc.org. Collection sites are often available at Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, Target, Sears, Black and Decker, Best Buy, Circuit City and Home Depot. Save gasoline, call before you make the trip.
- Consider buying fewer, but higher quality, durable goods to reduce waste. Low price doesn't always mean the best bargain. A higher priced item may last much longer and reduce the amount of waste ending up in landfills.
- Buy living gifts. House plants, garden seeds or potted trees that can be transplanted in the spring. For a list of Missouri growers and nurseries, check www.midwestplants.com/ByState/Missouri/missouri.html.
- Give gifts grown, raised, made and marketed by your neighbors. Locally made gifts usually have less packaging and involve much less shipping. The Missouri Department of Agriculture lists Missouri products and where to find them on the Web at www.mda.state.mo.us/Market/c2l.htm.
- Give gifts friendly to the environment. For example, cloth napkins and tablecloths, cloth shopping bags, a recycled plastic compost bin, gift certificates to resale shops or an equipment rental store, lamps designed for compact fluorescent bulbs, lunch boxes, recycling bins or stationary made from recycled paper.
- Reduce waste by offering homemade food items or personal services as gifts, such as washing the family car, sweeping sidewalks, shoveling snow, or painting for elderly family members or neighbors.
- Reuse holiday wrapping, or use old maps or comic pages from the Sunday paper for wrapping gifts. Put gifts in decorative tins or boxes instead of throwaway wrapping materials. Use and reuse decorative gift bags.
- Recycle those unwanted gifts you received last year to a needy person or family. Donate nearly new items as gifts or donations to community service organizations.
- Use your imagination in trimming the tree or yard for the holidays. Take time to recondition strings of lights that may only need a few bulbs. Create ornaments out of items that can be painted or decorated for a new look.
- Recycle the Christmas tree. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has a fact sheet available on proper disposal of Christmas trees on the Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/pubs/pub184.pdf. To compensate for the harvest of your Christmas tree, arrange to plant a new tree next spring. Or, consider using a durable artificial tree. Try reusing old artificial trees in outdoor holiday displays or for feeding birds and wildlife.
- Recycle cardboard boxes or better yet, save boxes and bows for reuse next year. It can be a surprise to find that the gift inside is not what is pictured on the box.
For further information on waste reduction, reuse or recycling, contact the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Solid Waste Management Program at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-5401 or visit our Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/alpd/swmp/homeswmp.htm.
For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming events, meetings and hearings, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.
###
