"Are you also the 'weird' relative that gathers all the Christmas bags to reuse next year?" one Redditor asked the r/Anticonsumption community.
It doesn't sound like a "weird" thing to do, but apparently the original poster was in the minority at their family Christmas celebrations when trying to be environmentally friendly with the gift wrapping.
"My mother in law immediately started throwing the bags in the trash after we opened presents this year," they added in the comments section.
Happily, the r/Anticonsumption group was full of other "weird" folk, and they were equally perplexed as to why anyone would not want to recycle the paper and bags that are otherwise forgotten when a present has been revealed.
"That's just wild to me," one Redditor said about the mother-in-law's choice. "I think my family is still circulating some bags from the 90s."
"Did you ask your MIL why she was throwing them away?" another asked. "I don't understand the rationale?"
The original poster revealed that their mother-in-law simply didn't want to store the present-masking material for another year.
It's an unfortunate stance to take, as not only could reusing gift wrap save plenty of money in years to come, but the impact of discarded wrapping can also take a toll on the environment.
A report from Sundale Research, summarized by The Huffington Post, found that $12.7 billion was spent on gift wrapping in 2017, and most of the stuff was predicted to eventually end up in landfill sites. That's not to mention the fact that continued demand means new products will be made every year.
In landfills, the material will contribute to the production of the planet-warming gas methane, which is significantly more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of heating potential.
But there are ways to wrap gifts with love and care for a fraction of the cost and do so in an environmentally friendly way.
One TikToker suggested using the paper found in delivery packaging to disguise presents until the big day while also advising viewers to use string instead of the plastic adhesive tape that can make gift wrap unrecyclable.
Meanwhile, Furoshiki wrapping, a method used in Japan in which presents are wrapped in traditional clothes, is an option that Alli Cherry suggested on Instagram (@allitav).
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