BETHLEHEM, Pa. — From food to gifts to travel — any holiday, no matter the time of year, has an impact on the environment.
“But I don't think we should think of it as ‘Thanksgiving being bad for the environment,’” said Faran Savitz, a zero-waste advocate with PennEnvironment.
“I think the best way to think about it is there are ways we can minimize our impact, or make sure our Thanksgiving is helping the environment or doing good things.”
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, the holiday season in the Lehigh Valley is almost at full tilt.
“From a waste perspective, we actually see during the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's — we generate 25% more waste than we do at any other part of the year."Faran Savitz, a zero waste advocate with PennEnvironment
However, amid the celebrations and family gatherings, environmental advocates are urging residents to be mindful of their decisions.
They say instituting small changes could make a big difference during one of the most wasteful times of the year.
“From a waste perspective, we actually see during the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's — we generate 25 percent more waste than we do at any other part of the year,” Savitz said.
“Just during this one-month period, we're using so much more stuff, we're throwing out so much more stuff. And that puts a real burden on our trash, on our recycling, on our communities. It creates a lot of litter.
"So certainly, we can do a lot better at making our Thanksgivings and our holidays in general, more sustainable.”
Here's LehighValleyNews.com’s interview with Savitz. Some answers were edited for style and clarity.
Q: Are these winter holidays, and Thanksgiving in particular, worse for the environment than other holidays throughout the year?
"To me, Thanksgiving, and to some extent, Christmas as well, are food holidays. We use a lot of food. We eat a lot of food. It's about sharing and enjoying food with family.
"And that creates a lot of food waste, which is the largest part of our waste stream in general. So I don't think we can say Thanksgiving is worse than other holidays for waste.
"Certainly, the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, creates a lot of waste, too. So some holidays have different types of environmental impacts than others.
"Halloween, I think it's more about the plastic and the clothing waste. Thanksgiving, to me, is a lot about food waste.
"How can we minimize our impact on that front either by using leftovers or reusing food scraps to make things like soup and stews, or by composting what we don't eat so that we're giving back to our soil? But everything has a bit of a different impact."
Q: Are there ways residents can decrease food waste?
"The three Rs — reduce, reuse, recycle. If you plan ahead and think about how many people you're feeding at Thanksgiving, or if you're going to someone else's Thanksgiving, how many other people are bringing dishes with them.
"Coordinating, planning, making sure you're not making too much, is a great way to actually reduce our amount of food waste, because if you don't make too much, then there's less you're wasting.
"But then you also want to reuse the food as much as possible. There are many different creative ways to reuse that food — if you're taking things like carrot tops, onion scraps, garlic scraps, all sorts of different things, turkey bones, and then turning them into things you don't normally think of as usable food, but turn them into a soup or a stock or finding some other use for them. That's the reuse side of things.
"And then, recycling is compost. If you're taking food waste and either you have a compost pile at home, there's community composting at your local farmers’ market or community garden, that turns your food scraps into usable soil, something that actually makes it better for growing new food.
"We don't really think about composting as a form of recycling, but when it comes down to it, that's what it is. Those three Rs really come into play with Thanksgiving."
Q: What about decorations and dinnerware?
"A lot of people get those plastic utensils, or they'll get plates that are either plastic or plastic-coated, that have leaves or are colored for Thanksgiving or have fun little turkeys on them, and then they throw them away. Or people get plastic leaves to decorate their house.
"There's a lot on the decoration side that we use and then throw away, but that's going to go to our landfills. It's going to get incinerated. It's going to be causing some impact to our environment, our wildlife, at some point down the line.
"So, definitely, I recommend using reusable options. Use your normal silverware or cloth napkins. Use plates that can go in the dishwasher or get hand washed.
"Because when it comes down to it, something you're going to use and use over and over again is going to be better."
Q: What can a guest do at someone else's celebration? Are there like choices they can make to be intentionally more sustainable?
"If you're going to someone else's Thanksgiving, to be more sustainable, talk to the host ahead of time.
"See what their plans are for both things, like plates, utensils, napkins. See if you can bring your reusable stuff with you and see if you can bring enough for everyone that's coming.
"Have a head count ahead of time so you can plan dishes coordinate with everyone.
"I like to, especially because I usually celebrate Thanksgiving with family, bring Tupperware containers with me. That way, even though I'm not at my own house, I can box up some of the leftovers, take them home.
"That stuff I know isn't going to go in the trash; I'm going to be able to eat it for the next week.
"Have one guest be responsible for napkins, one guest for the utensils. Have one guest bring enough Tupperware containers for everyone, so everyone can bring home the leftovers.
"I think that's a big part, too. Even if you're not hosting, you can still have an impact."
Q: Thanksgiving is one of the busiest holidays for travel. How can residents decrease emissions from driving long distances?
"With travel, there are a lot of different things people can do to minimize their impact. We're celebrating with friends and family — these are people you know. If you're going to be driving, see if you can carpool.
"I'm going to a Thanksgiving where there are people up and down the East Coast, from [Washington, D.C.] to New York to Boston, and we're carpooling.
"We're just making stops in different cities up and down the way, so that we're not all driving separately.
"Or see if you can take public transit, whether it's a bus, whether it's a train, and get as close as you can to where your Thanksgiving is supposed to be, and then have someone pick you up or carpool from your train or bus stop.
"It's just a way to get fewer cars on the road, make sure there's less traffic, less travel hassle and reduce our emissions that way."
Q: Are there other ways to decrease emissions around Thanksgiving?
"We grow food all across the country. A lot of food has to travel in refrigerated trucks over long distances, and that has a huge climate and emissions impact, too.
"So I think it's not just about transporting yourselves to Thanksgiving. It's about transporting the food on your table to Thanksgiving.
"And so, wherever possible, one way to reduce emissions and cut down on that side of things is shop for local produce. Thanksgiving is often thought of as this fall harvest holiday. We celebrate things like the squash that's available in the fall, or Brussels sprouts and other locally grown food.
"If you can take special attention, look at where your produce is coming from, look at where the turkey is coming from, and try and shop as local as you can.
"Maybe visit farms and farmer markets, too. That's a great way to actually cut down on emissions, because there's less distance that food needs to travel to get from where it's grown or produced to your table."
Q: What about cooking that food?
"There are lower-emission stoves, like induction cooktops that use less gas or other polluting fuels than, say, a classic gas cooktop.
"And so cooking with induction or other types of similar cooktops is a great way to reduce your emissions, and have a cleaner-burning Thanksgiving, so to speak.
"And not everyone has an induction cooktop, and no one should be expected to completely change their kitchen for Thanksgiving alone, but they're actually induction cooktops available to borrow at certain tool libraries or that are very transportable.
"One thing we actually recommend is to try and find an induction stove cooktop that you can use in addition to your normal cooked surfaces or ovens, or in their stead for Thanksgiving, because we are using those stoves and ovens for a long time when cooking Thanksgiving food."
Q: There are so many options here and different strategies, and it could be overwhelming for residents. Are there small steps they can take?
"People can always try something new every year. If one year you start eating leftovers, the next year, start using the food scraps.
"The year after that, start composting. The year after that, who knows? The world's your oyster.
"So certainly you can take the baby steps, take it one at a time, and build up towards taking sort of those larger, bigger strides, toward reducing your impact."
Q: What about the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday?
"Black Friday is actually a huge driver of waste and emissions, because, again, we have to ship all those products to stores or people are doing online shopping.
"So I think there are a lot of tips for people to reduce their environmental impact on Black Friday.
"It's actually thinking about, ‘Do I really need to take advantage of these Black Friday deals? Do I really need to buy the new stuff?’
"It's buying refurbished or repaired electronics instead of brand new ones, so that old electronics can stay in use for longer.
"Maybe making your gifts at home, whether you know how to sew or crochet, whether you're a cook or a baker, so you can make a tin of cookies or holiday candies for people, whether it's giving gifts of experiences and or just something that is not actually a material, physical gift that you're buying on Black Friday.
"We should just be very aware that that holiday shopping spree has a huge impact, and there are a lot of ways we can actually reduce what we're buying on Black Friday.
"Maybe change those shopping habits and not use as much stuff, because all those gifts come with packaging. It's the shipping, it's the waste that comes with it, too — wrapping paper, as well."
