While You are Shopping
1. Look for gifts that are unpackaged or minimally packaged, without unnecessary plastic wrap or cardboard backing.
2. During the nation’s busiest shopping season, bring your own shopping bags. Paper, plastic and cloth are all good; the latter two can be folded easily into purses and pockets until used.
3. Consolidate your purchases into one bag rather than getting a new bag at each store on your shopping rounds.
4. If you are shopping by mail order catalogue, remember to cancel the catalogues you don’t need—and recycle all of the catalogues you receive.

While You are Wrapping Gifts
5. When giving oversized gifts like bicycles or CD racks, instead of wrapping them in paper, just tie a bow around them.
6. Make your own wrapping paper out of brown paper bags and ink stamps.
7. Wrap gifts in reusable bags, storage containers or towels.
8. Reuse wrapping paper, boxes, tins and ribbons from previous holidays.
9. Put this year's Christmas cards away to cut up and use as gift tags for next year's gifts or use them to make tree ornaments.
10. Give gifts that don’t require wrapping at all such as tickets to concerts, museums and sporting events, gift certificates, house plants, or even gifts of your own time.

While You are Decorating
11. Avoid using single use decorations such as window stickers, spray snow and strand tinsel.
12. Get the kids to make decorations out of things you already have around the house, or from materials they might find in the back yard: twigs, bark, flowers, herbs, pine cones, etc.

While You are Celebrating
13. Reduce the heat before your guests arrive for a holiday party—all those extra bodies will heat the room on their own.
14. Bring your own camera instead of using disposable cameras to capture holiday memories.
15. Plan meals wisely and practice portion control to minimize waste in the first place.
16. Donate unwanted gifts, along with last year’s gifts that the kids have outgrown, to charity.

While You are Cleaning Up
17. Visit the CVWMA website, www.cvwma.com, for helpful advice about disposing of your Christmas tree. The website will feature this information specific to each locality closer to the end of the month.
18. Drop off extra packing peanuts at a local packaging store. (Visit www.cvwma.com/ctr2/ to find a merchant who will accept foam peanuts for reuse.)

At the Office
19.  In place of exchanging trinkets with coworkers, consider making donations directly to environmental, non-profit or charitable organizations. You could also have a used gift swap where everyone brings in an item they no longer want or need (book, decoration, etc.) Suggest purchasing company gifts from stores that donate a portion of the proceeds to an environmental cause.
20.  Encourage management to implement a recycling program.  Cost savings from fewer trash collections each year could help fund a corporate recycling program.  Visit www.cvwma.com/information/ to learn how to set up a recycling program at your office.

Source: 42 Ways to Trim Your Holiday Wasteline, Use Less Stuff