In the quest to find holiday gifts for a variety of friends and family, adding sustainability as a factor can simplify the search. Today’s guide helps you use sustainability as a measure of quality and commitment to our environment and the future.

If you want to give tangible objects, consider the full life cycle of the materials in them. This is a practical step on the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ pathway to sustainable goods. Our shared destination is a circular economy—we’ll buy less stuff, but when we do buy, we’ll choose goods that can be retained, repaired, reused, and recycled rather than thrown away.

Here is a quick list to help you focus your holiday giving on sustainable choices:

• “Buy nothing” gifts: Make your own gifts of food or art, give an item of yours that the recipient would value, share your feelings with a poem or song, or offer to do something fun or helpful.

• Online subscriptions: Provide education or entertainment and support the work of journalists and authors, without the environmental burden of producing and distributing printed materials.

• Donations and memberships: Make a donation or buy a membership in an organization, especially organizations doing work in the sustainability field.

• Tickets to performances: Support local arts and culture.

• Seeds and bulbs: Send seed packets or flower bulbs for a gift that grows.

• Sustainable living goods: Help your recipients take steps on a pathway to sustainability, with gifts that help them protect our environment.

• Gift cards or cash: Let your recipients choose what they really want.

Spending more of your money on services and less on goods is perfectly in tune with the strategy to “reduce, reuse, and recycle” on the pathway to a sustainable goods economy.

Many times, it’s possible to improve the sustainability of the goods involved in an economic transaction for a relatively modest increase in the total cost. It’s possible to be a responsible consumer in today’s economy by prioritizing services to reduce the amount of goods you buy but then carefully considering what types of goods you do buy.

If you decide to buy goods (i.e., a physical item) as gifts, here’s a checklist for sustainability:

• For durable goods: Is this high quality and long-lasting?

• For perishable goods: Will this fully decompose safely?

• Is it packaged responsibly?

• Are the materials in the gift non-toxic and fully biodegradable or recyclable?

• Is the maker trustworthy? (Do you believe the product claims and testimonials?)

• Was the item made locally, perhaps a handmade gift by an artisan, so you can avoid the environmental cost of shipping plus support your community?

Here are some eco-friendly gift ideas:

• Reusable water bottles made from glass or stainless steel

• An indoor herb or garden kit

• Sprout pencils (these pencils can be planted after use, growing into herbs or flowers)

• Bamboo toothbrushes or portable utensils

• Solar-powered chargers to charge cell phones

• Eco-friendly phone stands made from bamboo

• Beeswax food wraps (a reusable alternative to plastic wrap)

• A composting bin (a compact, countertop compost bin helps manage kitchen waste)

One final thought if you decide to buy and give tangible goods: Each year, over 2 million pounds of wrapping paper end up in landfills across the United States. You can help prevent this waste using these ideas:

• Easy to compost or recycle plain brown paper can be dressed up as wrapping paper.

• Save and reuse wrapping paper and ribbons from gifts you receive.

• Repurpose your wastepaper, such as paper bags — this can be a fun art project!

• Use reusable cloth gift bags.

You can easily act on a 2025 New Year’s sustainability resolution by being a model of sustainable gift-giving in 2024.

Fred Horch and Peggy Siegle are principals of Sustainable Practice. To receive expert action guides to help your household and organizations become superbly sustainable, visit SustainablePractice.Life and subscribe to One Step This Week.