Zero Waste Ways to Wrap Your Gifts
This eco sun print gift wrap is so uplifting and tree-friendly too! With a peachy backdrop and all-over sun pattern, it’s a playful choice for giving gifts. Easy to fold and reuse. Also in other designs: Sunset and Boho.
Also read about plastic-free paper tape. Also read our post on keeping pets safe at Christmas.
Although FSC-certified paper gift wrap is better, it still involves growing fast-growing plantations of monoculture trees, often with pesticides. These (unlike old-growth trees) don’t provide homes, shelter and food for native wildlife, and don’t absorb carbon dioxide, to help prevent climate change and floods.
Everything at Good Tuesday is printed on recycled paper, sent in plastic-free packaging, made in the UK and beautifully designed.
Choosing recycled paper is better than FSC-certified paper, as that still requires fast-growing trees with pesticides (instead these products ‘close the loop’ and use up unwanted waste that would otherwise end up at landfill, emitting methane gas).
Issues with ‘Plantable Gift Wrap
This is not a ‘party pooper post’, but it’s important that wedding and other eco paper goods makers, are clear to customers about safety and eco issues with some ‘plantable papers’.
Of course it’s great to buy wedding invites and place names etc, made with post-consumer waste paper, to save trees. But a huge volume of these are now embedded with wildflower seeds.
The idea sounds good: you receive wrap, then plant it in the garden and water it, and it turns into beautiful flowers.
But great care must be taken. Unless you know you are sending cards to pet-free homes, nearly all wildflowers (like poppies) are toxic to pets. So you don’t want to be sending dangerous gift wrap (or cards) that could be planted and turn into dangerous flowers near animal friends.
Of course if you know the recipients don’t live with or have visiting pets, it’s not a problem. Read more on pet-friendly gardens.
Issues with Sustainability (imported seeds)
The other issue is where the wildflower seeds come from. If you are choosing a quality local artisan brand, then it’s likely the seeds are fine.
But many brands don’t even know where the seeds are from. If they come from abroad, you could be importing non-native seeds that could harm native flowers or even bring disease into the country.
We have enough problems already with providing enough native wildflowers to supply endangered pollinators like bees, butterflies, moths and bats.
Importing non-native seeds means these can outcompete native flora, disrupt local ecosystems and harm local biodiversity. Many of the imported seeds may also be grown using GM methods, not good for the environment or wildlife. They also likely don’t germinate well.
So in a nutshell, choose plain recycled paper and wrap. Or if you choose seed paper of any kind, then go for local quality artisan brands, and only send to pet-free homes.
Alice Palace (artistic eco gift cards & wrap)
We love Alice Palace! This artist creates gorgeous personalised cards and gift wrap, made with green energy and printed on recycled paper or card.
England is in danger of becoming a boring monotone, and this company offers just the opposite. Quirky, fun and a little bit ‘English eccentric!’ The greetings cards are all blank inside.
Whatever the occasion, Alice Palace has a gift card or wrap for you, usually printed on recycled card. From happy couples to pet parents, you are sure to find something you like to stock up on!
You can even order a personalised tin for your pooches’ dog treats!
Eco Gift Wrap (made from grass!)
Grass-paper gift wrap is indeed made from grass fibres, and easily compostable after use. So pretty you can use as place mats or table runners.
Rolls of Pretty Recycled Gift Wrap
It’s All Eco offers lovely recycled gift wraps, sent in plastic-free packaging. Choose from Flowers and bees or Pink floral.
Use with recycled paper gift tags.
Japanese Inspired Reusable Gift Wrap
Fabric wrap is inspired by the Japanese method of wrapping gifts, using decorative tea towels or fabric scraps. You can use fabric wrap to everything from books to bottles. The giver or recipient can then pop the wrap in a drawer, and use it again the next time a gift is given.
It’s ideal for in-house giving (say family and friends), with no scissors or tape required.
Fabrap offers beautifully illustrated organic cotton gift wraps, packed in recycled paper envelopes, with notecards to keep or give back the wrap, once gifts are opened. Some wraps are reversible, so you can choose from two patterns.
HappyWrap is a company that also produces beautifully designed gift wrap, in organic cotton. Use to wrap bottles to books to jewellery. The brand was inspired by Dick Whittington, who would carry all his belongings in a fabric bag on a stick!
This fabric gift wrap features a beautiful sea turtle print, sure to inspire friends who love our endangered marine creature friends.
The naturally coloured fabrics have lovely weight, so need for lining and your gifts remain nicely hidden. The orders include cotton cord and a recycled card gift tag with cotton twine.
Sent in zero waste packaging with an illustrated guide to get you started, choose the correct size:
- Small is good for wine, gloves, books, DVDs, bracelet or watch boxes, aftershave, clutch bags or iPads.
- Medium is good for shoe boxes, board games, shirts, boxed gadgets and portable radios.
The company also sells recycled paper gift wrap and sustainable Lokta paper (from a bark that sheds naturally each year in Nepal and provides jobs).
Battle Green’s Festive Reusable Gift Wrap
Battle Green Reusable Gift Wrap is in bright red or green, made with organic cotton. Ethically made in India. £1 from each dale is donated to a small non-profit that helps care for abandoned, abused and unwanted domestic/farm animals and sick/injured wildlife.
Fabric wrap is inspired by the Japanese method of wrapping gifts, using decorative tea towels or fabric scraps. You can use fabric wrap to everything from books to bottles. The giver or recipient can then pop the wrap in a drawer, and use it again the next time a gift is given.
It’s ideal for in-house giving (say family and friends), with no scissors or tape required.
The Soul of Gift Wrapping: Creative Techniques
The Soul of Gift Wrapping is a book that combines inventive wrapping designs with inspiring personal essays by sustainable gift wrap artist Megumi Inouye, drawing on the gift-giving traditions of her Japanese heritage.
Keep small parts (like buttons) and glue – even natural versions) away from children and pets (toxic, and can expand in the stomach).
Using repurposed materials (like old maps and sheet music), her approach inspires readers to think intentionally about the presentation of every gift.
Learn how to make tape-free folding techniques, paper and fabric bows, clever message tags and unique approaches for odd-shaped items. And how to wrap a book without tape.
Megumi Lorna Inouye was born in Los Angeles, but her culture of thoughtful gift-giving comes from her Japanese parents. She often uses recycled and found materials, giving a second life to things that otherwise might be overlooked or discarded.
She believes that living in the midst of a fast-paced consumer age, there is something to be said about rethinking our relationship with gift exchanges and wrapping.
Here are a couple of her creations (not from the book), both made from recycled paper:
