Brock Press

Issue date: 1/6/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Dario Ayala

With the cliché hustle and bustle of the holiday behind us, and the need to sugar coat everything also gone, it is time to look at the mountain of waste, exploited resources and seeming disregard for humanity that the holiday season has left in its wake.

Not to ruin your sugar-plum dreams with the taste of eggnog still fresh in your mouth, but living in the consumer culture that we do, Christmas is one of - if not the largest - waste creating holidays, and, what is most upsetting, is that it is whole-heartedly encouraged on many fronts.

Christmas Lights

There are entire blocks in St. Catharines alone that receive subsidies on their electricity bill from the municipal government for the amount of lights and decorations that adorn their homes.

For the past 30 years, Rio Lane in St. Catharines has covered itself in a myriad of Christmas decorations, twinkling through the night, as a steady stream of cars passes around the cul-de-sac admiring the display. Though beautiful, the use of electricity is horrendous.

On average, a traditional string of 100 incandescent Christmas lights would use 500 watts of energy, as well as produce approximately 250 to 300 pounds of Carbon Dioxide waste. Multiply that by the number of strings used on a single home in the display, for example 40, and that is 2,000 watts of energy used, and 10,000 to 12,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide waste produced.

To put that in perspective, a kilo-watt is 1,000 watts of energy, and the average Canadian consumes approximately 7,800 kilowatts a year.

Wrapping Paper and Other Waste

On average, within the month of December, four billion tonnes of waste is produced from gift wrap and shopping bags. The weight of an average African elephant is 9,000 to 13,000 pounds, or approximately four to eight tonnes.

In the United Kingdom, on average 83 km2 of wrapping paper is used in the month of December - in Canada the amount is comparable.

Though sending beautifully decorated Christmas cards to friends and relatives is a tradition of many families, approximately one billion Christmas cards will find their way into the garbage sometime this year. One deciduous tree creates 3,000 holiday cards.

Continued...

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