The holiday season is one of the busiest and most waste-intensive times of the year for Canadian businesses. December brings a surge in packaging, shipping materials, food waste, decor, and single-use items from office celebrations. Without a clear plan, this temporary spike can lead to overflowing bins, higher service costs, and avoidable landfill volume.
The good news? With smart planning and thoughtful recycling habits, businesses can navigate the season smoothly while keeping waste under control and operations running smoothly. Here’s how.
Why Waste Spikes During the Holidays
The holiday season creates a perfect storm of waste-generating activities. Some of the biggest contributors include:
- Increased Shipping & Packaging: From retail restocking to year-end e-commerce orders, cardboard, mailers, bubble wrap, and plastic film skyrocket in December.
- Office Parties & Catering: Events often include disposable plates, cups, utensils, and food scraps. Much of which ends up in mixed recycling or landfill by accident.
- Gift Exchanges & Employee Appreciation: Wrapping paper, ribbon, gift bags, tissue paper, and product packaging add extra volume.
- Outdated Décor & Lighting: Old string lights, broken ornaments, and worn-out décor often get tossed incorrectly.
- Year-End Cleanouts: Paper files, broken office items, and old electronics accumulate as businesses declutter before January.
Understanding these trends helps businesses take proactive steps—not reactive ones.
Smart Strategies to Reduce Seasonal Waste
1. Optimize Your Cardboard Management
Cardboard is the single largest contributor to holiday waste, and managing it well can prevent bins from overflowing. To keep bins manageable, boxes should be fully broken down to maximize space, and cardboard should be kept clean and dry to ensure it remains recyclable (keep separate from food waste or wet materials).
Businesses that produce high volumes during December may benefit from a temporary increase in cardboard collection or an assessment of whether bin sizes and pickup frequencies should be adjusted. Waste Logic can support these seasonal changes to keep operations running efficiently.
2. Streamline Holiday Packaging Waste
Not all holiday packaging is recyclable, which often leads to contamination. Provide staff with a clear guide that outlines recyclable items:
- Corrugated cardboard
- Paper (non-glitter) gift wrap
- Paper mailers
- Hard plastics (depending on local recycling rules)
Not Recyclable:
- Foil or glitter wrapping paper
- Ribbons and bows (unless your city has a reuse program like Edmonton)
- Plastic bubble wrap (unless accepted separately)
- heavily laminated packaging
- Metallic gift bags
Providing clear, easy-to-understand signage near waste stations during December can significantly reduce errors and help maintain clean recycling streams.
3. Reduce Contamination During Office Parties
Office celebrations create a high risk of recycling contamination, especially when food and drink containers are involved. Businesses can reduce this problem by placing well-labelled recycling, organics, and landfill bins in accessible locations and ensuring staff understand which materials go where.
Keeping food and liquids away from recycling bins is especially important, as a single contaminated bag can compromise the entire stream. Good bin placement and thoughtful communication help prevent end-of-night “everything in one bin” habits.
Additionally, proactive planning and selecting compostable products for events, or using durable plates and cutlery that can be washed and reused, significantly reduces waste and supports overall sustainability objectives.
4. Manage Food Waste with a Plan
Food waste tends to rise during the holiday season, but businesses can lower their impact by planning ahead of time. If your business has an organics program, the holidays are the perfect time to make the most of it.
Tips:
- Order realistic quantities
- Donate unopened surplus catering where possible
- Provide smaller plates to reduce excess
- Encourage staff to bring containers for leftovers
- Place organics bins right beside catering areas
Food waste spikes up to 30% during December. Taking small steps like these can significantly reduce the amount of food sent to landfill.
5. Recycle Electronics Responsibly
The end of the year often brings device upgrades, equipment replacement, or “clean slate” decluttering. Which often produces a wave of electronic waste. Businesses should designate a clearly marked area for collecting old laptops, keyboards, phones, and peripherals. Ensuring that data is properly wiped or destroyed is essential, and batteries should always be stored separately from regular waste and recycling.
Waste Logic provides secure, compliant e-waste recycling solutions to help Canadian businesses handle this material safely and responsibly.
6. Set Up a Temporary Holiday Waste Plan
Planning ahead makes the biggest difference during the holidays. Many businesses benefit from additional cardboard pickups, seasonal recycling support, or a short-term communication plan that reminds employees of proper sorting practices. A brief walkthrough with a waste partner before the season begins can help identify potential challenges and ensure that bins, schedules, and processes are prepared for increased volume.
To avoid overflowing bins and service disruptions, consider:
- Extra cardboard-only pickups
- A second mixed recycling bin
- Temporary organics support for holiday events
- Pre-holiday waste audits or site walk-throughs
- A communication plan to educate staff
A short-term strategy can prevent long-term operational issues.
Support a More Sustainable Season with Waste Logic
Holiday waste doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right preparation, clear communication, and guidance from an experienced waste and recycling partner, your business can reduce seasonal contamination, manage surges in volume, and keep operations running smoothly well into the new year.
Waste Logic supports organizations across Canada with smarter diversion strategies and reliable year-round waste management. If your business needs support managing the holiday surge, our team is here to help.
