Sustainable Holiday Tips

The holiday season is upon us. Once again, we will gather with loved ones to share good times, good food, gifts, laughter, and perhaps, conversations on how to celebrate the holidays in an eco-friendly way. We have compiled some useful tips and information to help you be the eco-star of your holiday celebrations.

Dining

Spending quality time with family and friends during the holidays often involves enjoying food. When preparing your holiday meals, try to support local farmers who grow sustainable meat and produce. Not only is it more sustainable, but it also helps support local businesses and keeps your dollars in the community. Local Farmers’ Markets include:

Thousand Oaks Certified Farmers’ Market

The Oaks Shopping Center (Wilbur Road & Oaks Mall Drive)

Open Thursdays from 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

East end parking lot.

Westlake Village Farmers’ Market

2797 Agoura Road

Open Sundays from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Located in the plaza parking lot, free parking.

Other suggestions:

1. Plan your menu and exactly how much food you'll need to minimize food waste.
2. For your invitations and event programs, consider going digital.
3. Creating your digital invitations and event programs is easier than ever on platforms such as Evite and Canva.
4. Cook multiple items in the same oven and run appliances on full loads.
5. Avoid buying individually packaged drinks.
6. Serve your guests with reusable cups, plates, silverware, and utensils.
7. Or purchase compostable items here.
8. Ask your guests to bring reusable containers for leftovers.
9. Donate leftover food to local food banks.
10. Local foodbanks include Manna and Food Share Ventura County
11. Compost food that is not donated.
12. Place any leftover food scraps in your green waste (organics) bin. Athens Services will collect the materials and take them to its composting facility, American Organics, where they will be processed into a nutrient-rich compost suitable for agricultural and commercial use.

Décor

For many of us, decorating our homes with holiday lights is a symbol of the season. Consider switching your old traditional lights to LED lights to be more sustainable. LED lights use 90% less energy, which will reduce your energy costs, and they last longer than traditional lights. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a good quality LED bulb can last 3 to 5 times longer than a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and 30 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Other suggestions:

1. Donate your old working holiday lights and other holiday decorations to Goodwill Industries. Click here to find Goodwill locations in the Conejo Valley.
2. Take your non-functional holiday light strands to Tempus e-waste recycling in Newbury Park. Tempus extracts the copper wiring from the strands. Public drop-off hours are Monday through Friday, 7:00 am – 2:00 pm, located at 2001 Anchor Court, Suite B, Newbury Park. For more information, contact 805-499-0050.
3. Mail your old broken lights to Holiday LEDs and receive a 10 percent off coupon towards the purchase of new lights.

With these tips, you will undoubtedly have a wonderful and eco-friendly holiday season! Happy Holidays!