How can a disposable tableware company offer “green holiday tips?”  Disposable tableware is the ultimate in landfill waste.  Yet, Chinet is offering tips to make your holiday season a greener, happier season.  OoKay….let’s look at some of their tips.

Implied first tip (actually tip no. 4):  Use Chinet tableware.  To be fair, Chinet is  made from 100 percent recycled pre-consumer waste and it is “biodegradable in home composting.”  Let’s look at this for a moment.  Keeping waste from going to a landfill is good so  two points there, but don’t most people just trash disposable plates after using them?  What exactly does “biodegradable in home composting” mean?  Loss of four points for creating post consumer landfill waste and puzzling phrases. – 2 points

Tip #1: Add organic and local food/decor to your holiday celebrations.  This tip promotes local businesses and cuts down on the amount of energy used to ship or truck food across country (or countries).  Four points for helping the local economy and saving energy. 4 points

Tip #2: Recycle your Christmas Tree.  Excellent tip since many large municipalities have started Christmas tree recycling programs.  Not new but a good tip anyway and one that gives Chinet another two points.  2 points

Tip #3: Use LED holiday lights.  Since LED holiday lights use 90 percent less energy than regular holiday lights, you save energy and money.  This tip earns points on two counts, two points for saving energy and four points for saving money. 6 points

Tip #4: Don’t use cards that include foil, plastic or electronics:  Cards that include any of the before mentioned ingredients, can’t be recycled and only wind up in landfills.  Since many municipalities and areas only recycle newspapers and select other types of paper, this is a non issue for many people.  However, in areas where you can recycle what is known as “mixed paper”, this is something to keep in mind.  Mixed points. Loss of two points for a tip many can’t use and add three points for a tip some may not have thought of. 1 point

Chinet also recommends that you recycle cards by using them as gift tags.  Obviously, Chinet doesn’t have people who use the entire inside of Christmas cards to tell 365 days worth of news, nor does it find cutting up Christmas cards for gift tags tacky, cheap and time consuming.  For the hardcore environmentalist(whose family already considers them a little off) this is a viable option. 1 point

Tip #5: Use alternative wrapping methods.  Chinet recommends using old newspapers and paper bags as wrapping materials.  Since we are entering what looks to be, another depression, this might actually be the only option for many.  However, anyone who has ever worked in an office with parents of school aged children, knows that many schools use holiday paper sales to raise funds for a variety of school and class projects.  Hmmm.  For those tired of forking over every holiday season for wrapping paper they never use, this gives them an excuse not to buy and still look virtuous.  Okay, two points for providing an out for people who always get stuck buying unnecessary holiday wrappings out of guilt.  2 points

So lets take a quick tally of points and see Chinet’s total point score: 14 points

OK, so Chinet offering green holiday tips may not be quite the oxymoron it initially seemed.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 12:57 pm under Green Technology, Tips and advice.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
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