Dive Brief:

• Household waste grows by 25% between Thanksgiving and Christmas, culminating in approximately 6 million tons of additional waste materials, according to a nifty infographic from Sustainablog. 
• Gift wrap and shopping bags create four million tons of waste annually; in fact, wrapping paper comprises half of the paper products consumed by Americans every year.
• Each year, 30 million of the 50 million Christmas trees consumers buy are tossed into landfills.

Dive Insight:

Fortunately, there’s a number of programs across the country seeking to reduce waste during the holidays. Last year, Phoenix, AZ launched a public awareness campaign in an effort to curb the volume of seasonal waste entering landfills.

The hundreds of thousands of evergreens that are collected and recycled after the holiday ends are used to make fish habitats, mulch, and dunes to ward off erosion in marshes. Some communities and retailers have also started programs to deal with cooking waste, including initiatives to recycle used cooking oil.