The holidays are over and all the Christmas packages have been unwrapped and most people have taken down the tree and packed up their decorations for next year. Looking back at the 2017 season, what is the total impact on utility bills, the economy and local landfills?

First of all, the season begins with Thanksgiving when more than 46 million turkeys are carved and eaten according to the United States Department of Agriculture. From all that turkey, along with the trimmings, approximately $293 million dollars-worth of food is actually thrown away.

The National Resources Defense Council (NDRC) also calculated other costs specific to Thanksgiving turkey waste: “That amount of discarded turkey requires an estimated more than 100 billion gallons of water — enough to supply New York City for 100 days. And when it comes to climate pollution, it wastes emissions equivalent to driving a car across the country 800,000 times.”

Next come those Christmas Trees where reports state that approximately 25-30 million real trees are sold in the U.S. every year. Another holiday tradition is sending cards and packages. On average, 2.65 billion Christmas cards are sold each year in the U.S., which equates to filling a football field 10 stories high, according to the use-less-stuff website.

The Postal Service expected to deliver more than 15 billion pieces of mail, including 850 million packages this past season. A 10 percent increase over the 2016 season. UPS expected to deliver more than 750 million packages globally between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve and FedEx estimated 400 million packages.

This in line with a report that Americans spent more on gifts this year compared to 2016. Last year, the average spent on gifts was $935.58. In 2017, the average spent on gifts averaged $967.13, the highest amount since 2007 according to the National Retail Federation.

According to reports, it’s estimated that 20 million households put up Christmas decoration in the U.S. with the average family running their lights four hours per day using 1,000 watts. The end result being an estimated $233 million spent on electricity to light up all those decorations.

What is the impact on the local landfills? Americans throw away 25 percent more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year’s holiday period than any other time of the year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week according to the use-less-stuff website.

If all this seems excessive, there are several way to reduce waste and leave less of an environmental impact. Including taking Christmas trees to recycling programs where the trees are turned into mulch or compost.

Also, reusing wrapping paper, bows, ribbon, boxes and bags would decrease the impact on landfills.

“If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields,” the use-less-stuff website states.

Once the wrapping materials has become unusable, recycle it. Though most bows can’t be recycled because of the plastic-paper composite, wrapping paper can be recycled. As long as it isn’t metallic or have glitter or velvety flocking on it. Something to keep in mind when purchasing paper at the beginning of the season.

This goes for Christmas cards, as well. Plain paper cards can easily be recycled, whereas those printed on shiny or photo paper cannot. Even strings of Christmas lights can be recycled, according to Loreen Green who heads up the recycling program in Alberton. She said strings of lights can be taken down to the Cinderella Art Gallery in town and for a small fee, put into their recycling bin. By using a little forethought and extra energy during the post-holiday season, people could have a huge impact on holiday waste.