Green Weddings and the Absurdity of Gift Wrap

I'm getting married in less than a month, and have been watching in delight as some early gifts come in - and in horror as I unwrap a 2ft x 2ft box to find that it contains 25 pieces of indestructible silverware, along with enough packaging to double our normal weekly landfill contribution.

Seriously, I don't expect everyone to be "green" and I'm certainly not the perfect environmentalist myself, but it's absurd.  The silverware, for example, came in 5 different boxes which were surrounded by yards of bubblewrap inside a big cardboard box, which in turn had several yards of cloth trademarked ribbon around it, and then a huge volume of paper to fill up the space between it and the shipping box.  You could have fit a small child in this thing.

I've spoken to that particular vendor (Crate & Barrel), and while the staff is sympathetic, there is simply no way in the current system to request less packaging - fairly hypocritical given the new in-store "green packaging" program.  The other places we're registered aren't much better.  Overall, I think REI has used the most minimal packaging - but they've also tended to ship small items separately when combining them would have been better.

Given the recent popularity of "green weddings," along with the cost of packaging and shipping, this seems like a huge oversight - and also a giant opportunity.  I'm sure some couples would choose to register at one store over another if the environmental benefits were significant, and there is certainly room for significant improvement.

Comments

[Cameron Stiff]

Then there is the environmental impact of silver mining...

Did you provide any 'green guidelines' for gift givers? This Christmas I thought of it a bit too late; I myself attempted to buy only gifts made as local as possible, by small scale businesses or artisans, and, of course, environmentally friendly.

I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog.