Audrey Wang
The first thing a person does a week before a big holiday is write down their shopping list.
“[My parents buy things for the holidays] quite often,” said freshman Jules Singh. “Pretty much every holiday, people buy gifts or cards or [give] money so people can buy other things … New stuff is considered nice, and people do nice gestures to show that they love people.”
Almost every holiday relies on some sort of new purchase. The main attraction of Halloween night is going door to door to ask for candy. But if no one spends money on bags of candy, then the ability to trick-or-treat is completely eliminated. One’s Halloween would be reduced to walking around in the dark.
Another prominent example is Christmas.
“Everybody forgets the true meaning of Christmas, of how it’s [about being] with family,” said junior and Project Pantry Club secretary Heli Artola. “There is a lot of mass buying of this and that, on toys, on shoes and clothes … You need to spend money on the stocking stuffers for somebody, or you need to have presents for everybody … [Christmas] is really focused on spending money for others.”
In the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, waste generation increases by 25%, which is one million tons of trash added to already heaping landfills. Only around 27% of American homes compost, so all those spoiled leftovers pile onto the landfills as well.
Come Christmastime, Rockefeller Center erects a real Christmas tree. Overall, a fake Christmas tree would be much more cost-effective, but there’s one large factor holding them back from turning to plastic: tradition. Tradition stands as the justification for numerous other holiday purchases. A traditional celebration is widely considered as being the best way to celebrate, with many unnecessary purchases being chalked up to “keeping the holiday spirit alive.” The mountains of gifts and candy wrappers, however, stand as a distraction from the true meaning of the holidays. Purchases shouldn’t hold more importance than connecting with the people one cares about.
Companies nationwide benefit heavily from the holiday season, as it gives them the opportunity to create limited-edition, holiday-themed products. The demand for these products, which only stay in stores for about a month, comes from their “novelty,” despite the scheduled appearance every single year. The holiday menu at Starbucks, for example, is minimally changed every year. Favorite drinks or products will come back. But the rush of the impending end of the season has consumers in a frenzy, as they try to stock up on all the pumpkin spice lattes and peppermint mochas they can before they’re gone.
“There are usually more customers during the holidays,” said DJ Djinguezian, a part-time barista and Aragon alumnus at Starbucks. “It’s usually the most overwhelming time for me and my coworkers. … Starbucks advertises [their new menu] pretty well so that people get excited to try it. I think the high demand is because people are aware that it’s only a seasonal thing, and it’s going to go away pretty soon, so they need to experience it before it goes away.”
While it’s practically impossible to avoid purchasing new products during the holiday season, there are still ways to mitigate one’s spending. Halloween costumes can be built out of clothes one already has, seasonal items can be bought in moderation and gifts can be homemade. Before making the purchase, one might first consider its necessity.
The repercussions of these excessive holiday purchases run deeper than “too much stuff.” In the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, waste generation increases by 25%, which is one million tons of trash added to already heaping landfills. Only around 27% of American homes compost, so all those spoiled leftovers pile onto the landfills as well. While purchasing an artificial Christmas tree may seem like a better alternative, they never biodegrade, and sit in landfills indefinitely. The wrapping paper that’s trashed from presents can only partly make it to a recycling bin; glittery, foil wrapping paper requires too much energy to recycle and is thus turned away.
“People tend to buy too many gifts and a lot of plastic and waste continues to be manufactured as people buy more,” said senior and secretary of One World Club Fiora Tripple. “There’s also a lot of shipments, and that causes more waste in the atmosphere, [through the usage of] planes and [other means of transport].”
Holiday products can also vary in sustainability, as the materials used are lacking in longevity and reusability. 600 million pounds of Halloween candy purchased every year are packaged in one-time-use wrappers that are often extremely hard for recycling companies to process. Each trick-or-treater is responsible for about one pound of trash from candy wrappers alone. Holiday food and drink are often served on single-use plates or cups. While decorations are reusable, certain decor like Halloween cobwebs or garlands simply don’t hold up for more than a year, and are quickly thrown away and repurchased.
While it’s practically impossible to avoid purchasing new products during the holiday season, there are still ways to mitigate one’s spending. Halloween costumes can be built out of clothes one already has, seasonal items can be bought in moderation and gifts can be homemade. Before making the purchase, one might first consider its necessity.
“I [constantly see] a lot of people buying 20 cans of beans for Thanksgiving, and they’re not always used and are usually thrown away, so that just contributes more to the food waste that we have in our society,” Artola said. “A good way to cut down the amount of food that we buy and waste is just better portioning … [I]f you’re gonna have 20 people at your house [for Thanksgiving then] you [should] have leftovers [other] than not [having] enough for everybody. But instead of buying 50 portions, buy 30 … The amount of stuff that you buy will really help [reduce] food waste.”
Holiday consumerism isn’t entirely preventable. However, with the holiday season coming up, one may consider each purchase more carefully before adding it to the cart.
