A Sustainable Holiday Guide

Salt dough ornaments are a fun and eco-friendly way to decorate for the holidays. Photo by Elise Crigar.

The holidays don’t have to come with a mountain of trash bags. If you want to have a more eco-friendly season, choose reusable first, compostable second and recyclable last. That hierarchy keeps the focus on materials that flow back into everyday life instead of into the landfill. 

Decorate plain paper with potato stencil stamps for a kid-friendly DIY. Photo by Shannon Rose Greene.

DIY and Upcycling This Holiday Season

Start with what’s already in the house!  Last year’s cards are a design goldmine. Trim out the best images, glue two back-to-back, punch a hole, and you have instant ornaments with a handmade finish. The simpler move is to cut cards into rectangles for gift tags, it only takes one snip, a hole punch and twine. Give last year's wrapping paper a second life (or check your local thrift store). Even paper grocery bags pull their weight: cut star or tree silhouettes, paint on some festive designs at your next craft night and string them together. If you shop at Trader Joe's, use their seasonal paper bags for cute and sustainable wrapping paper. Add some twine and some dried fruit or flowers to really make your sustainable wrapping job pop.  Plain, uncoated paper can be composted at season’s end. 

Holiday decor doesn’t have to look crafty to be low-waste. Dehydrated orange garlands are elegant and durable. Slice oranges into quarter-inch rounds, pat them dry and bake on racks at 200° for two to three hours, flipping once, until translucent. Thread them on twine, spacing with wooden beads or bay leaves and drape them across a mantle or window. Paper-bag snowflakes take minutes: glue eight to ten paper bags in a stack with an inverted “T” of glue, trim a point at the top, cut a few side shapes then fan the stack open and glue the last sides to complete a three-dimensional star. 

If you have kids in the mix, put them to work on decor that you’ll actually want to keep. Set out a stack of last year’s cards, scissors, a glue stick and a hole punch and let them make their own ornaments. Pre-thread a few blunt plastic needles so they can string orange slices. Roll out kraft paper and stamp it with potato-carved stars or trees to become custom wrapping sheets.

Forage for seasonal holiday decor and unique tablescapes. Photo by Jenna Alexander.

Natural Scents and Simple Centerpieces

Simple scent bundles replace synthetic sprays, try tying rosemary, cinnamon sticks and a dried orange slice with twine and hang them from a wreath, chair back, or door handles. Save glass jars for lanterns. A strip of brown paper stamped with stars, a band of lace or a wrap of twine around the shoulder is enough; drop in an LED tealight and cluster them along a table in groups of three. For a centerpiece, use a low tray and go nature-forward: pinecones, magnolia leaves, palmetto fronds, a piece of driftwood and a few beeswax candles. Keep it low so guests can see each other across the table.

Smarter Tree Choices for a Warm Climate

Tree choice matters in a warm climate like ours. If you want a traditional look with a lighter footprint, opt for a live, potted evergreen that can thrive here, like a Southern red cedar, sand pine or Arizona cypress. Keep it outdoors until a few days before decorating, bring it in for no more than a week, water lightly then return it to the patio and up-pot in late winter. For a Florida twist, use citrus!  A container calamondin, Meyer lemon or kumquat is an evergreen statement piece in December and a productive patio tree the rest of the year. Decorate with lightweight ornaments and soft ties, keep it away from heater vents, and move it back into bright outdoor light after the holidays.

Native shrubs make excellent “bush trees” if you prefer something compact and bird-friendly. Yaupon holly, Simpson’s stopper, wax myrtle and dwarf Southern magnolia all shape up beautifully in containers. A few strands of LED lights and a restrained palette of ornaments turn them into sculptural focal points and unlike cut trees, they keep working for the landscape long after January. If you do buy a cut tree, choose a regionally sourced species, skip artificial flocking and say no to plastic mesh; lash it with reusable straps instead. Afterward, remove all decorations and drop it at a municipal tree-cycling site or chip it for mulch.

Winter in Northeast Florida brings a cornucopia of fresh produce to the markets. Photo by Jesse Brantman.

Florida-Forward Meals With Less Waste

Food is the other big lever. Build the menu around what’s actually in season here: leafy greens, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, radishes, carrots and citrus are abundant and affordable. For a coastal centerpiece, roast a local white fish over fennel and orange slices, pair it with lemony collards and finish with sweet potatoes tossed in a pecan-herb gremolata. For a vegetable-forward spread, stuff acorn squash with farro and mushrooms and add charred broccoli rabe and spiced carrots with a spoon of yogurt-tahini. If you need something hands-off for a crowd, a single sheet pan of chicken thighs, sweet potato wedges and Brussels sprouts, finished with orange zest and parsley, is efficient and universally liked.

Creamy roasted cauliflower and potato soup makes great use of leftover foods. Photo by Nick Hogan.

Waste less by shopping with containers and buying pantry items from bulk bins like rice, nuts, dried fruit and spices add up quickly in packaging if you don’t plan ahead. Roast more vegetables than you need and turn the extras into next-day grain bowls or breakfast hash. Save citrus peels and simmer them with equal parts water and sugar to make an orange syrup for cocktails and mocktails; it keeps for weeks and turns leftovers into a holiday feature, not an afterthought! Compost raw vegetable trimmings, plain napkins and uncoated paper. If your compost can’t take meat or dairy, keep those out and focus on what breaks down cleanly.

Wrap presents in tea towels for two gifts in one! Photo by Julie Christman.

Gifting That Gets Used, Not Stored

Gifting can follow the same logic. Choose items that get used up or refilled, such as  local honey, fresh-roasted coffee in a returnable jar, olive oil refills, spice blends, kombucha or plastic-free home staples like solid dish soap with a wooden brush. Experiences make wonderful gifts, think a beach picnic kit, a native-plant starter with a quick consult or a class. When it’s time to wrap, make the wrap part of the gift: a scarf, tea towel or bandana tied replaces paper and tape entirely. If you prefer paper, use kraft, old maps, shopping bags or newsprint dressed with custom art, natural twine and a sprig of rosemary or a dried citrus slice instead of plastic bows.

Refills and Subscriptions: Set-and-Forget Sustainability

If you want these low-waste habits to stick past New Year’s, automate them. Eco Eclectic offers refills and product subscriptions for everyday essentials, such as dish and hand soap, all-purpose cleaners, laundry, dishwasher and more! We make it easier to cut plastic, avoid emergency runs and keep the house stocked with better, cleaner ingredients. Choose a delivery cadence that fits your household, pause or adjust anytime and bundle seasonal gift add-ons when you need them.

Close the Loop in January

Sort decor into three bins: “Reusable,” “Compost” and “Recycle.” Dried botanicals and plain paper can go to the compost and the reusable bin should hold cloth wraps, twine, jars, saved cards and intact garlands for next year. Tree-cycle cut trees or mulch them on-site; re-pot or plant living trees and native shrubs. If you keep one tote on a garage shelf labeled “Holiday Reuse,” next year’s setup will take minutes and cost almost nothing!

Eco Eclectic Takeaways

Sustainability is not about perfection. It’s about designing the season so materials cycle back to soil, back to kitchen, back to the patio tree while keeping the experience generous and local. That’s the Eco Eclectic approach in Jacksonville: elevated, practical and built to last beyond the calendar page.