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Waste Free Celebrations By Connie Heppner Mueller

 We are all long overdue for some parties and celebrations. So many anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, 

retirements and other milestones passed us by without being able to properly mark their importance. But 

now that we’re starting to be able to do some party-planning once again, we wanted to offer some tips for 

how to do so without creating a whole pile of waste at the end.

  1. Gift Wrapping. Fabric is perfect for gift wrapping. At the thrift shop, scarves are the easiest way to 

    find beautiful fabric with finished edges in various sizes. Then do an Internet search of “furoshiki” 

    for easy and unique ways to use fabric for gift wrapping, no tape required. Newspaper or old maps 

    also work great. Thrift shops often have a large assortment of gift bags too.


  1. Use Reusable Dishes. What’s a party without great food? Inevitably, this requires dishes. It can be 

    tempting to buy disposable and I often hear the argument, “but plastic is recyclable and paper is 

    either recyclable or compostable so what’s the problem?” The problem is that making those 

    products and also recycling them takes an enormous amount of energy, water and all kinds of 

    other resources. Recycling is the last resort, not the first. Also, very little plastic actually gets 

    recycled because we just make way too much of it and it’s difficult to recycle. Making paper requires 

    huge amounts of water, chemicals and energy. Add the carbon footprint of transporting these items 

    and the environmental cost is excessive. 


For large celebrations you can rent dishes, linens and silverware from a number of businesses in 

Southern Manitoba. Some people collect thrift store dishes for an event and then donate them back 

afterward. Or borrow dishes from your church or community center. There are so many great 

alternatives, plus food and drink just taste better from “real” dishes.


  1. Avoid Plastic If you really must choose single-use products, always look for natural materials like 

    glass or paper instead of plastic. 

    1. Why? You’ve heard that diamonds are forever, but actually plastic is forever. Every speck of 

      plastic we’ve ever made on this planet is still here in some form. It simply can’t be undone 

      and we continue to make over 60 billion tonnes of it, increasing every year.

    2. Why is paper or glass better? Clean paper can be recycled and soiled paper can be 

      composted. If paper does escape into the environment it doesn’t take long for it to break 

      down. Glass, while not recyclable in our area, is essentially sand and is not considered an 

      environmental contaminant, and of course glass can be reused indefinitely and it’s 

      beautiful to boot. Aluminum cans recycle well and are also a good alternative to plastic for 

      beverages.

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