All around southern Maine, people and communities alike are looking for new ways to reduce energy costs and recycle and reuse the trees, wrapping paper and packaging that traditionally winds up at the curb after the holidays.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of household garbage in the country generally increases by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, from 4 million tons to 5 million tons, and about 33 million live Christmas trees are sold in North America each year.

Heather Chandler, publisher of the Sunrise Guide, a coupon book for healthy and sustainable living in southern Maine, suggests shopping locally for both gifts and food as a way to celebrate a more eco-friendly holiday season.

“It keeps money in our local economy,” she said about making the effort to shop locally.

Chandler also encouraged giving gifts that don’t take use much packaging, encourage sustainable living and give to environmentally conscious organizations, like a membership to the Maine Audubon Society, for example.

Jetta Antonakos, of the Waste Management and Recycling Program in the State Planning Office, said one way she encourages people to have a “zero-waste” holiday is to give the gift of an experience rather than something tangible.

“People have too much stuff,” she said, and rather than give them more you can, “do something as simple as spending time together doing a favorite thing,” which is not only valuable for the experience itself but for the memories it creates, she said.

For example, she said, offer to help with chores, set a date to bake together or make time for a trip to the bowling alley.

But if packaging is a must, Antonakos said, make sure to use recyclable gift wrap and not foil or plastic. When setting the holiday dinner table, use washable plates, cups and silverware and cloth napkins.

One way to ensure you have presented your gift with eco-friendly packaging is to use Wrapsacks – a reusable gift bag made of recycled cotton. The cotton bags are available at One Earth Natural Food Store in Shapleigh.

“It’s an alternative to gift-wrapping,” said One Earth owner Alissa Laitres. Each bag has a unique code that can be tracked online as the bag is reused. “They go around the country. It’s pretty cool,” she said. “It’s kind of a unique gift wrapping idea.”

Towns are doing their part too, with public works departments in Biddeford, South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth collecting Christmas trees to chop into mulch and be reused by the town or city and its residents.

In addition, in cities and towns like South Portland and Sanford the fire departments have decorated the central fire stations with energy-efficient LED lights to save on energy costs.

According to Sanford Assistant Chief Jeff Rowe, the decision to switch to LED Christmas lights for the seasonal exterior display at Central Station on Main Street was made after a group of firefighters proved the additional cost of the bulbs would be made back in just over two years.

Rowe projected an estimated savings of 1,525 kilowatt hours over the course of the 35-day holiday season, from Thanksgiving through the new year.

“We project our use would decrease from about 1,550 kilowatt hours to 28.7 kilowatt hours,” he said.

Based on a municipal electric rate of approximately 9 cents per kilowatt hour, that’s a cost savings of about $135, and it cost only about $300 for the new strings of LED lights for the station, he said.

Still, for some, it’s hard not to go all out on the holidays.

Rikki Phillips, who has had one of the largest displays of Christmas lights and decorations in Lebanon for over a decade, said he recently considered switching to LED lights, but between the extra cost and aesthetics, he couldn’t be convinced to switch.

“The lights are so small – like the red or blue light on a VCR or DVD player – and my house is so big, I was afraid they wouldn’t show up,” he said.

“They cost five to seven times the price of regular Christmas lights,” he said. “They are energy-efficient, but it would take years to make up the price of the lights themselves in energy savings” from Central Maine Power.

In order to promote purchasing LED lights, this year, Efficiency Maine, a Maine Public Utilities Commission program, is offering coupons for those who purchase the LED Chrismast lights.

According to Nicole Clegg, spokesperson for the commission, the amount of energy used to light one regular bulb is the same amount it takes to light a whole strand of LED lights.

Along with the what lights to buy, also comes a debate about what to hang them on.

Ginny Moody, one of the owners at Moody’s Nursery & Garden Center in Saco, said it takes more energy to manufacture an artificial Christmas tree than it does to grow one, and that artificial trees are environmentally unsound because they are

made with petroleum products.

“What people don’t seem to understand is that Christmas trees are grown as a crop, just like pumpkins, potatoes or corn. They’re grown to be cut down,” Moody said.