How can you make your gift table more sustainable? Image by theblondephotographer.com.
Any time you throw a party–birthday, wedding, anniversary, whatever–people will bring gifts. If you want to steer your guests to gifts that are green or sustainable in some way, there is more than one option.
One way is to ask people to make donations to a cause, possibly even an environmental cause. If you want to do a formal donation gift registry, organizations such as the I Do Foundation can create a Charity Registry for you. You can also let your guests know your preferences in a more informal way, if you prefer. (But Miss Manners insists that there should be no mention of gifts with the invitation. That’s one thing your wedding website is for.)
Some people will give you tangible gifts, and I’m not going to discourage them. If you want to reduce the amount of garbage that goes to the landfill, however, you can suggest to your guests that they use recycled wrapping paper to wrap it. You can also steer them to less wasteful gifts, such as things you really need or gift certificates for services you enjoy.
Finally, you can make a point of recycling or reusing as much packaging as possible from your gifts. Cardboard boxes, most wrapping paper, and some kinds of plastic packaging can all be recycled. It’s a little thing, but it all adds up.
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