What’s your favorite holiday? Most people say Christmas. What do you use to wrap presents? Wrapping paper of course. But what if I tell you that wrapping paper is bad for the environment? Did you know that 2 million tons of wrapping paper are used each year? That must waste a lot of trees. Guess what, there are also cheaper, and also other    ways that do not waste trees.  People should not use wrapping paper to wrap presents for Christmas.

My first reason to not use wrapping paper is that wrapping paper is NOT recyclable. Wrapping paper is laminated which means it is covered in plastic. Plastic takes about 450 years to decompose in a landfill.

Another reason is that wrapping paper wastes trees. Wrapping paper wastes more than 3,000,000 trees each year! If we keep using wrapping paper there might not be enough trees left to take in the carbon dioxide.  As the biggest plant on earth, trees give us oxygen and  store carbon dioxide.

Lastly, is that there are MUCH cheaper ways that don’t waste resources. Here are 15 alternate for Wrapping Paper; baskets; wallpaper; newspaper; tissue paper; tins; cans; or jars; paper grocery bags; reusable fabric bags; fabric scraps; plain brown paper (butcher paper, freezer paper); reusable bags; pillowcases; maps; towels; blankets; or, scarves; feed sacks; and old calendar pages. That’s not all, there are probably hundreds of more ways to not use wrapping paper.

Other people may think differently about this topic. Some people enjoy the tradition of wrapping paper. Wrapping presents goes back to a really long time ago where ancient traditions celebrated holidays that involved giving gifts, so it kind of a tradition. People also like the designs on the paper for holidays like Christmas or birthdays. It does go with the season or celebration, but really, is it worth it?

In conclusion, wrapping paper is bad for the environment and also uses resources we can’t get back. Even though we use wrapping paper to feel festive on the holidays, it is still bad for the environment. There are hundreds of more ways we can substitute wrapping paper that are not only cheap, but also non tree wasting. Nobody should use wrapping paper.

Sources

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-we-wrap-presents

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/holiday-waste-6-million-tons-of-trash-to-landfills.html

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2013/12/15-ideas-for-wrapping-paper-alternatives.html

http://greenblizzard.com/2010/12/17/conserve-your-use-of-holiday-wrappings/