While the holiday season is often a time for celebrating with friends and family, it is also a time when the Deschutes County Department of Solid Waste sees a significant increase in the amount of trash going into the landfill.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American family generates about 25 percent more garbage between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day compared to the rest of the year. The added waste from shipping materials, gift wrapping, disposable decorations and leftover holiday food amounts to an estimated 1 million tons of extra garbage during the holiday season.

"This holiday season, Solid Waste suggests giving sustainable gifts, limiting packaging, and minimizing food waste," said County Solid Waste Director Tim Brownell. "If we all make a few simple changes, we can reduce the amount of garbage going into the County landfill."

Solid Waste offers these reduce, reuse and recycle strategies to help make holiday celebrations more sustainable:

There are more reduce, reuse and recycle strategies on the Solid Waste website at: https://www.deschutes.org/solidwaste/page/recycling.