Recycle week: reincarnating the remains of holiday gifts

This week's eco-topic: Recycle

If you have a floorful of discarded ribbons, tissue and wrapping paper, the easiest -- and most lucrative -- green step is to reuse that stuff to wrap presents all through the year. Your presents will look just as pretty.

But for the mangled or ripped papers and tissues -- or a simple overabundance of the stuff -- try this tip from Real Simple magazine: "run it through a paper shredder and use the fluffy strips as packing filler when you’re putting away your decorations." (via lifehacker).

I don't think the shredding is even necessary; just make sure there's enough paper padding to give the ornaments a little cushion. Turning them into strips might make it easier for next year, though: Take out your decorations again and reuse those shreds again as decorative filler material for gift boxes and bags!

Next: How to recycle your now-naked holiday tree, assuming you went the green route and got a real tree this year.

Photo by tracy ducasse via Flickr