Your Mini Eco-Holiday Handbook

• Use online meal planning calculators to determine how much food to buy for guests and holiday gatherings.
• Prepare meals with local ingredients, making use of what's in season in Colorado and reducing the transportation impact of your food.
• Buy ingredients in bulk when possible. Don't forget to bring refillable bags and containers with you to the grocery store.
• Set the table with reusable plates, glasses, utensils and cloth napkins.
• Get creative with leftovers and then compost all other food scraps in your backyard or curbside compost bin.

• Use energy-efficient LED holiday lights to decorate your tree and home. Remember to unplug lights when not in use to save energy.
• Wrap gifts in recyclable or reusable materials, like old maps, calendars, fabric and gift bags. Avoid shiny, glittery and metallic papers; these are not recyclable.
• Repurpose old holiday cards, calendars and scrap paper for gift tags and cards.
• Swap decorations with friends and family, make your own, or buy used décor at thrift stores and consignment shops.

• Buy gifts from thrift stores, local shops or artisan markets.
• Give memories instead of stuff. Gift experiences like tickets to a museum, movie or sporting event, a series of art classes or dinner out at a local restaurant.
• Share your skills. Bake sweet treats, knit a hat or take someone to a show.

Eco-Cycle's Holiday Guidecan help you find the best place to dispose of holiday leftovers - or better yet, ways to give them new life.

Here are some common holiday leftovers and where they go:

• Compost natural Christmas trees in your curbside bin or drop them off at Western Disposal's Wood and Yard Waste Drop-Off Center. If your tree is longer than six feet, please cut off the top so it fits in your compost bin.
• Bring broken holiday lights and extension cords to Eco-Cycle's Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM).Attached light bulbs are OK. Please bundle cords and tie with the loose end so they don't get caught in machinery.
• If you can't reuse them, recycle paper shopping bags, cardboard boxes, and other papers in your curbside bin. Large staples and shiny graphics are OK. Please remove non-paper handles and any metal.

Wrapping paper is not accepted in curbside recycling or compost. Please put it in the trash.

For a limited time, wrapping paper can be recycled at the Boulder County Recycling Drop-Off Center.