Looking for ways to make your holidays more sustainable? Here’s what experts told us.

From piles of cardboard boxes sent by online retailers to living room floors strewn with wrapping paper to mounds of gifts, the holidays can pose a struggle for someone trying to limit their environmental impact.

We asked three North Carolina experts what they do at home to keep the holiday greener. Their suggestions ran the gamut from what to shop for to how to package holiday cookies to how to decorate your Christmas tree.

Here’s what they told us.

When buying gifts, don’t think about ‘stuff’

Many are familiar with a pile of toys and clothes and other items accrued either throughout the holiday season or on Christmas morning. But sustainability experts say one of the easiest ways to make your holiday more environmentally friendly is to think about what you can give that isn’t a physical object.

“Many of our homes are busting at the seams with stuff and usually we don’t need more stuff, and the experiential opportunities or things that are personal can be much more meaningful,” Cindy Shea, the director of UNC Chapel Hill’s Sustainable Carolina, told The News & Observer.

Shea had these suggestions:

• A framed photo of you and the person receiving it. Make yourself an identical framed photo.

• Experiences, ideally for the recipient to undertake with the gift-giver. For example, Shea suggested gifting passes to a water park.

• Donations to nonprofits or schools that are meaningful to the recipient

• Recipes, with the ingredients included. This could also include a family story if the recipe is a traditional one, Shea said.

• Recordings, if you are a musician. Alternatively, Shea suggested holding a small concert or sing-along.

• Subscriptions to digital services like news websites, music streamers or video game platforms.

• Tickets to performances or events.

As a bonus, if you’re thinking of a last-minute gift, many of these options mean you don’t need to wait for a delivery.

Go electric with gifts

Many home appliances or tools use fossil fuels, from stoves to leaf blowers.

Charlotte Clark, a Duke University professor of sustainability emeritus, said that due to concerns about climate change she is “trying to move from things that might have been fossil-fueled to things that are electric.”

Clark said she bought an electric-powered string trimmer and blower for her own use this year. She gave the example of buying an induction-powered hot plate that could be used instead of a gas or even electric-powered stove.

Shop local, maybe shop used

Visiting a local store means that your gift won’t need to come in the cardboard and plastic containers that are strewn all over many of our doorsteps at this time of year.

Clark also suggested being thoughtful about what you are giving and considering whether a newly purchased gift is really necessary.

For example, she said, many young children don’t truly need a brand new toy or gift — in many cases, she said, they’ll actually prefer to play with the box.

Clark said this mindset is “not going out of the way to give gifts if it’s not really what the child wants.”

And for people who are a bit older and interested in shedding some of the things they acquired, Clark suggested thinking about what they have that children or grandchildren might be able to use.

“I think about what can I hand down that my adult kids or grandkids could use and want and start to re-home existing items as opposed to buying new items,” Clark said.

Consider your holiday lights

Chances are you’ve already decorated your Christmas tree. But if you’re a last-minute person or the kind of shopper who scoops up discounts right after the holiday, consider the kind of lights you want to use.

LED holiday lights are about $2.40 for 10 feet, while incandescent alternatives are $1.30 for the same length, USA Today reported previously. But that doesn’t capture the entire cost.

The U.S. Department of Energy says LED lights use 75% less energy and can last 25 times longer than incandescent lights. That means that by using LED, you’ll save on energy bills now and not need to buy replacements as often.

“The same LED string could still be in use 40 holiday seasons from now,” says the Department of Energy’s website. It also points out that LEDs are much cooler than incandescent lights and don’t break as easily because they’re made out of plastic instead of glass.

Look for ways to avoid plastic

The N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher has launched a campaign called “Give Green, Live Green” that largely focuses on avoiding plastic in shopping, gifting and celebrating the holiday season (LED lights aside).

Research has linked plastic in the world’s oceans to the deaths of sea turtles. A 2018 study by Australian researchers found that sea turtles have a 50% chance of dying once they’ve ingested 14 pieces of plastic.

Aquarium officials said they think about protecting the environment year-round but that high-consumption times like the holidays can have a significant impact. Here are their tips:

• Avoid single-use plastic bags at department stores and grocery stores. Keep cloth alternatives by the door or in your car so you don’t forget them.

• Give baked goods like cookies in tins or glass containers. In addition to the appearance, those containers are more likely to be reused.

• Pick a real Christmas tree instead of a plastic one.

• Re-use paper bags and twine to wrap gifts instead of buying wrapping paper.

• Take a reusable tumbler to the coffee shop so they can fill that with coffee or tea instead of giving you a plastic cup or single-use cup with a plastic lid.

• When you’re buying liquid soaps or lotions to give as gifts, look for glass bottles instead of plastic.

• When you’re going to a restaurant, don’t get a straw with your drink. Also, take your own container for leftovers instead of using foam or plastic.

“While we’re talking about this here near the ocean, most of the marine debris that ends up in the ocean is coming from inland areas. Folks in Raleigh, folks in Charlotte can make a difference,” Deyanira Romo Rossell, a spokeswoman for the Fort Fisher aquarium, told The N&O.

The aquarium also recommends that people buying coffee look for “Bird Friendly” certified coffee, indicating that the beans have been grown without destroying the tree canopy.

Don’t use wrapping paper

Wrapping paper looks pretty, but ultimately the person receiving the gift will only look at it for a few minutes before tearing it off.

“It has such a short life. Do you really need it for that five minutes for when you give it to someone until it’s recycled or trashed?” Shea said.

Shea suggested decorating the cardboard box the gift may have arrived in or reusing gift bags.

Clark makes cloth gift bags that family members receive over and over again at the holidays. She also uses cork fabric to make reusable gift tags, particularly for members of her family who are always giving gifts to each other.

“They become kind of a family tradition that’s passed on,” Clark said.

Use the ‘scrunch test’

Wrapping paper can only be recycled if it doesn’t have foil, glitter or plastic.

To that end, the City of Raleigh suggests using “the scrunch test” to figure out if paper can be put in your recycling bin or needs to be thrown away.

The test is exactly what it sounds like. Take the discarded paper in your hand and squeeze it into a ball.

If the paper stays in the ball, it can be recycled. If it unfolds itself, it needs to go in the trash can.

Shea also suggested saving wrapping paper that is used for bigger gifts, putting it away so it can be used again the following year.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.