Gift wrap: 10 ecological alternatives

Wrapping paper is expensive, anti-ecological and ultimately useless. However, tradition dies hard: in France, 40 million rolls are purchased each year with a peak in the three months preceding Christmas. However, it is possible to find alternatives that are just as pretty and zero waste.

• Newsprint. The advantage is that the newspaper is usually cut into large sheets, large enough to cover a large bundle. We will preferably opt for pages with images or advertisements rather than obituaries …
• A nice fabric. It is the reusable packaging par excellence. The Japanese are crazy about it and have given this technique a name: the furoshiki. There are countless tutorials on Internet to learn about this art of folding on fabric. You can use a bandana, a square scarf or cut out an old tablecloth for this.

• A gift hood. Here, no packaging: the gifts are put in bulk in a large hood. The surprise effect is always there, with the added pleasure of “searching” to find your gift. Several shops offer this kind of hood, but you can also take a laundry basket.
• The “plantable” paper. This wrapping paper will not end up in the trash, but in the garden! The company Growing paper offers cards and wrapping paper “seeded” with seeds of flowers, which will grow once the paper is buried under a thin layer of soil.

• A large envelope. If the gift is flat enough (book or video game for example), a kraft envelope covered with a pretty picture or a ribbon will do just fine.
• A roll of toilet paper. Convenient for inserting small cosmetic bottles, scarf or small items, the roller costs nothing and can be covered with ribbon to decorate.
• A shoe box. No paper or tape to handle: just wrap a pretty ribbon around the box.
• Custom paper towels. Take some watercolors from different colors and a paintbrush, mix in with water, and you have beautiful graded leaves for gift wrapping.

Paper towels painted with watercolors, perfect for wrapping gifts. © stux, Pixabay

• Old calendar sheets. Good thing, the year is almost over! Recycle calendar photos into wrapping sheets.
• An old road map. Often colorful and very solid, road maps make excellent packaging.