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SUNY ESF Offers Wicked Cool Tips to Make the Holidays Green
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Dec. 9, 2025 – With 5 billion pounds of gift returns ending up in landfills every year, the Sustainability Office at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) offers ways to make it a green Christmas in all the right ways.
“The National Retail Federation estimates that Americans will spend around $1 trillion during this winter holiday season.” said Susan Fassler, sustainability director. “Retailers project that 34% of winter holiday gifts are returned, with many of them being landfilled instead of restocked.”
Instead, Fassler suggests gifting experiences over things.
“It’s great to encourage people to gift experiences during the holidays,” she said. “It cuts down on waste and you can tailor the experience to something the person likes that they may not have bought themselves.”
With Wicked flying into movie theaters and the Broadway show playing in Syracuse this month, this is the perfect time to celebrate being green. “Why not gift tickets to the movie or until Dec. 14, the touring Broadway show in Syracuse?” Fassler said. “You can never be too green.”
If material gift-giving is your love language, Fassler suggests being mindful of the gift. Keep a running note in your phone all year. “When someone mentions something they like, you write it down and when the holidays – or birthdays – arrive, you don’t have to wrack your brain for an idea. It’s right there in your phone.”
No matter what you’re giving, how you wrap up the holidays is something to consider.
Approximately 8,000 tons of wrapping paper, the equivalent of about 50,000 trees, is used to wrap gifts each year.
“If every American family wrapped just three presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields,” Fassler said.
At ESF, the Holiday Gift Wrap Exchange has become an annual event. The Sustainability Ambassadors, a group of ESF employees dedicated to encouraging sustainable practices in offices, collects surplus holiday wrapping to then offer to campus for free.
This year’s exchange was held in conjunction with the campus Winter Market craft fair. Tables full of paper, gift bags, ribbons, boxes, bows and holiday cards were set out. Students, faculty and staff were encouraged to pick up some holiday trappings for their newly purchased gifts or gifts they had yet to buy.
The day started with 30-gallon bags of items and ended with one small bag. Those items are now on a table by the Sustainability office for people to take as the need arises.
“The students loved ‘shopping’ for paper for gifts or even to decorate their doors in Centennial Hall,” said Rochelle Strassner, Sustainability Outreach and Engagement Manager. “We also had faculty and staff take advantage of the event, with one calling his wife to see what size gift bags he needed.”
“You could even roll a paper exchange in with cookie exchange with family and friends,” Strassner said. “Gift wrap that’s old to you, is new to someone else.”
About SUNY ESF
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is dedicated to the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies, and building a sustainable and resilient future through design, policy, and management of the environment and natural resources. Members of the College community share a passion for protecting the health of the planet and a deep commitment to the rigorous application of science to improve the way humans interact with the world. The College offers academic programs ranging from the associate of applied science to the Doctor of Philosophy. ESF students live, study and do research on the main campus in Syracuse, N.Y., and on 25,000 acres of field stations in a variety of ecosystems across the state.