Hey team, and welcome back to one5c! Today’s product review is a category that’s been on my mind for years. I swore off kraft-based wrapping paper sometime around 2020, after my first roll was so stiff and annoying to work with that I relegated it to packing-paper status. I’ve made progress since then, including developing an arsenal of non-paper wrapping options. Luckily, recyclable gift wrap has made progress, too. Let’s discuss…
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—Corinne |
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OUR FAVORITE WAYS TO WRAP PRESENTS |
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All that glitters is definitely not recyclable. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 million to 5 million pounds of wrapping paper are produced every year, and about half of it ends up rotting in landfills.
That’s because many of the spools lining the racks at HomeGoods or Target become their glimmery selves thanks to a thin layer of plastic. “Plain old wrapping paper is readily recyclable, but so much of the wrapping paper that is sold and is appealing and sparkly and lovely is plasticized,” explains Jean Ponzi, an environmental educator at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s EarthWays Center.
In other words, anything glittery, super shiny, or reflective means the paper likely has a plastic coating and is destined for the dump. The same rules apply to most tape, ribbons, and gift bags, too.
Your holiday haul doesn’t need to go commando, though. Kids tearing into gifts is the stuff memories are made of, and that gleeful carnage is a huge dopamine hit for both the little ones and the grown-ups watching it all go down. There are tons of creative ways to wrap presents that avoid those glimmering plastic papers—that aren’t just brown paper packages. |
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Product Review
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The best recyclable gift wrap |
It's easy to work with, gentle on the Earth, and more colorful than brown paper. Read the review. |
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When it comes to successful investing, it’s often not about what you get right, but what you don’t get wrong. With the Fisher Investments guide, 13 Retirement Investment Blunders to Avoid, you can learn errors to steer clear of to help get the most from your portfolio—and enjoy the retirement you deserve. From being too conservative in investing to paying excessive fees to mismanaging withdrawals, this guide lays out the mistakes investors with $1 million should avoid on their retirement journey. Get your free guide today. |
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A federal judge struck down President Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects on federal lands and waters. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said the order, which was signed on the first day of Trump’s term, is “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law,” siding with attorneys general from 17 states. Onshore wind has the lowest lifetime cost of any form of energy we’ve got, and the pricetag for offshore farms is on pace to be lower than natural gas by 2030.
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From being too conservative in investing to paying excessive fees to mismanaging withdrawals—this guide is full of mistakes investors with $1 million should avoid on their retirement journey. |
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A group of more than 200 environmental organizations sent a letter to congress imploring them to hold back on building more data centers until “adequate regulations can be enacted to fully protect our communities.” It’s the latest—and possibly the loudest—addition to a wave of pushback against the tech infrastructure, which is infamously thirsty, energy-hungry, and emitting. A recent study in the journal Nature Sustainability found that smarter policies, like dialing in where the data centers get built, can help ease the negative impacts.
New York City’s congestion pricing program, which charges drivers to enter traffic-clogged areas in Midtown and Lower Manhattan, led to a 22% drop in particulate pollution in its first six months, according to a newly published analysis. In fact, all five boroughs saw some dip in pollution. “This tells us that congestion pricing didn’t simply relocate air pollution to the suburbs by rerouting traffic. Instead, folks are likely choosing cleaner transportation options altogether,” lead author Timothy Fraser told Yale Environment 360. |
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