EcoWaste Coalition Urges the People to Save Gift Packaging and Cut on 'Holitrash'

26 December 2025, Quezon City. The EcoWaste Coalition, a group campaigning for waste prevention and reduction, urged the general public not to throw Christmas gift wrappers and other packaging materials to avoid holiday trash or 'holitrash' from piling up after the big day for gift-giving.

According to government data, the country’s daily waste generation exceeds 60,000 metric tons, with the National Capital Region producing the most. Waste composition is generally biodegradable and recyclable, though plastic is a major problem, comprising around 24% of waste. Waste figures tend to increase during the extended Christmas and New Year holidays.

The EcoWaste Coalition had earlier launched its advocacy “Christmasaya Kapag Walang Aksaya” in Tondo, Manila to promote ‘holitrash’ prevention and reduction measures, including avoiding wrapping presents and choosing gift items with less packaging or requiring no wrapper at all to decrease resource use and garbage.

“We urge all recipients to give wrappers and other gift packaging a second life through creative reuse or upcycling, keeping waste out of dumps and landfills and avoiding hazardous waste burning,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“By reusing or upcycling used gift bags, boxes and wrappers, as well as ribbons and other accessories, we extend the useful life of these materials made from trees and other resources and which took days to process, manufacture and transport to street vendors and retail stores,” she said.

“By avoiding the dumping or burning of gift packaging materials, we prevent aggravating the ‘holitrash’ situation, as well as avoid toxic substances from entering the environment, contaminating our air and food supply,” she added.

Open burning in particular, Lucero said, can result in the formation and release of health-damaging byproduct smoke and ash. These byproducts may contain numerous toxicants, including particulate matter; volatile organic compounds; greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide; heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury; and persistent organic pollutants or POPs like dioxins and furans and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.

The EcoWaste Coalition offers the following reusing and upcycling ideas to prevent and reduce “holitrash” this festive season and beyond:

1. Save your packaging! Open gifts carefully to preserve materials for future packages.
2. Save wrappers for use as materials for school projects and scrapbooks, and as book or notebook covers.
3. Re-use crumpled or shredded wrappers as cushioning materials for Christmas string lights, Christmas tree ornaments, and other decorations to be removed and stored after the holidays.
4. Use gift boxes to store objects such as mementos, fashion accessories, maintenance drugs, buttons, clips and other supplies.
5. Create shapes, molds and games from cardboard gift boxes.
6. Transform Christmas cards into bookmarks or as decors and gift tags for future Christmases.
7. Re-purpose bows and ribbons as add-ons to floral arrangements or as hair adornments.
8. Save fruit baskets and gift hampers for future gift-giving or as containers for children’s toys, fruits and vegetables, kitchen condiments, etc.
9. Save red money envelopes or “ang pao” to store bills, receipts, ID photos, etc.

The EcoWaste Coalition reiterated the importance of mindful use of resources and sustainable consumption as our country and people face the challenges of triple planetary crisis: climate emergency, pervasive pollution and biodiversity loss.