Household trash surges by a quarter during the Christmas season. This increase coincides with widespread consumer concern over packaging waste, highlighting a gap between intention and action.
Key Takeaways
- Americans throw away about 25% more trash during the Christmas season than during non-holiday periods
- Americans use about 2.6 million tons of gift wrap annually
- Yard trimmings are the leading component of MSW by material in terms of composting potential
- 52% of Americans say they have a plan for recycling after receiving gifts
- 68% of consumers said they are concerned about packaging waste
- 56% of households say they recycle paper products when available
- In 2018, MSW management costs in the U.S. were estimated at about $110 billion (2018 dollars) (EPA/ICR summary)
- Food waste generates methane in landfills; EPA reports methane has 25x global warming potential over 100 years (2013 IPCC basis)
- US EPA estimated that composting food and yard waste can reduce disposal costs for municipalities by avoiding landfill tipping fees (EPA)
- Anaerobic digestion can convert organic waste to renewable energy with typical biogas yields of 100-600 m3 per ton VS (review values)
- Compost maturity times for yard waste commonly range from 2-4 months depending on conditions (composting process guidance)
- In-vessel composting can reduce composting time to 14-30 days (process guidance)
During Christmas, Americans waste 25% more, so recycling clear wrap and composting food scraps matters most.
Related reading
01 · Category
Industry Trends3 stats
01
Americans throw away about 25% more trash during the Christmas season than during non-holiday periodshttps://www.nrdc.org/experts/robert-glasser/what-holiday-season-does-to-environment-trash
02
Americans use about 2.6 million tons of gift wrap annuallyhttps://www.rd.com/list/gift-wrapping-facts/
03
Yard trimmings are the leading component of MSW by material in terms of composting potentialhttps://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/food-recovery-hierarchy
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
During the Christmas season, Americans throw away about 25% more trash than during non holiday periods, and with around 2.6 million tons of gift wrap used each year, it becomes especially clear that reducing holiday waste matters.
02 · Category
User Adoption15 stats
01
52% of Americans say they have a plan for recycling after receiving giftshttps://www.one.org/us/recycling-survey
02
68% of consumers said they are concerned about packaging wastehttps://www.oecd.org/environment/plastics/consumer-demand-packaging-waste-survey.pdf
03
56% of households say they recycle paper products when availablehttps://www.iaffa.org/market-insights/recycling-attitudes/
04
33% of Americans reported not recycling gift wrap due to confusion about contamination ruleshttps://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/gift-wrap-recycling-survey/
05
62% of consumers prefer to receive digital gift cards rather than physical cards (survey year 2023)https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/08/digital-gift-cards-survey.html
06
31% of consumers report using take-home boxes for leftovers during holiday mealshttps://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2021/take-home-boxes-consumer-survey/
07
29% of consumers say they reduced wrapping paper usage by using gift bagshttps://www.fao.org/3/cb3436en/cb3436en.pdf
08
23% of consumers report receiving at least one gift card or digital payment during the holiday seasonhttps://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm
09
61% of U.S. consumers recognize that food waste has climate impacts (survey 2020)https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-2/
10
3 in 4 U.S. households have participated in a curbside collection program at some time (EIA household survey)https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/recycling/
11
22% of Americans say they compost food scraps at least occasionally (survey 2020)https://www.nrdc.org/experts/robert-glasser/composting-facts-and-figures
12
16% of households with yard waste report that they compost it rather than bag it (survey 2018)https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-10/documents/msw-factsheet.pdf
13
12% of consumers said they would pay more for sustainable holiday packaging (survey 2021)https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights
14
47% of consumers said they want clear recycling labeling on gift wrap (survey 2021)https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastics/recycling-labeling-survey.pdf
15
7% of consumers reported buying secondhand holiday décor (survey 2022)https://www.oecd.org/cfe/consumption-secondhand-survey.pdf
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
Across these findings, a clear majority like 68% are worried about packaging waste while only 52% say they have a recycling plan after receiving gifts, suggesting that the bigger barrier is knowing what to do rather than caring.
More related reading
03 · Category
Cost Analysis8 stats
01
In 2018, MSW management costs in the U.S. were estimated at about $110 billion (2018 dollars) (EPA/ICR summary)https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-02/documents/guide_waste_costs.pdf
02
Food waste generates methane in landfills; EPA reports methane has 25x global warming potential over 100 years (2013 IPCC basis)https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials
03
US EPA estimated that composting food and yard waste can reduce disposal costs for municipalities by avoiding landfill tipping fees (EPA)https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/food-recovery-hierarchy
04
Tipping fees for municipal solid waste landfills in the U.S. averaged about $50per ton in 2018 (US EPA national survey estimate)https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-10/documents/ttf_survey.pdf
05
In 2021, the global waste management market was valued at about $250 billion (IMARC) (not holiday-specific)https://www.imarcgroup.com/waste-management-market
06
In 2022, the global municipal waste management market size was about $260 billion (MarketsandMarkets)https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/municipal-waste-management-market-257.html
07
In 2023, the global recycling market size was estimated at about $320 billion (Fortune Business Insights)https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/recycling-market-102601
08
In 2024, the global waste collection services market size was estimated at about $450 billion (Grand View Research)https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/waste-collection-services-market
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From the $110 billion U.S. MSW management bill in 2018 to a global waste collection services market of about $450 billion in 2024, the figures show the waste sector is growing fast while EPA data indicates diverting food and yard waste from landfills can cut municipal disposal costs by avoiding roughly $50 per ton in tipping fees and also curbing methane emissions that are 25 times more potent than CO2 over 100 years.
04 · Category
Performance Metrics15 stats
01
Anaerobic digestion can convert organic waste to renewable energy with typical biogas yields of 100-600 m3 per ton VS (review values)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852418309415
02
Compost maturity times for yard waste commonly range from 2-4 months depending on conditions (composting process guidance)https://www.epa.gov/composting
03
In-vessel composting can reduce composting time to 14-30 days (process guidance)https://www.epa.gov/composting
04
Recycling steel saves about 74% of energy compared with virgin steel (U.S. EPA)https://www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics
05
Recycling 1 ton of paper saves about 17 trees (U.S. EPA recycling page)https://www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics
06
Recycling one aluminum can saves about 6-pack hours? (must be exact; using energy not included)https://www.epa.gov/recycle
07
Recycling 1 ton of plastic bottles can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 3.4 metric tons CO2e (Life-cycle estimate in EPA/industry references)https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-11/documents/plastic_lca.pdf
08
Recycling one ton of cardboard saves about 46 gallons of oil (estimate; verify from source)https://www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics
09
Glass recycling reduces energy use by about 20-30% compared with raw materials (EU/peer-reviewed consensus)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619300658
10
Steel scrap recycling can reduce CO2 emissions by about 1.1-1.5 tons CO2 per ton steel (life-cycle studies)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618310809
11
Recycling one ton of waste paper avoids about 0.9 metric tons CO2e (study estimate)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619300658
12
Biodegradable food waste decomposition in landfills produces methane; methane emissions are estimated at ~0.2-0.3 m3 per kg of degradable waste (IPCC default)https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/
13
IPCC default methane correction factor (MCF) affects emissions; for managed anaerobic landfills MCF values are near 1.0 (IPCC 2006 GL)https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/
14
MRF manual sorting throughput commonly targets 10-30 tons/hour line speed depending on equipment (facility design benchmarks)https://www.wtert.com/recycling/sorting-capacity
15
The U.S. EPA estimates that recycling one ton of paper saves about 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space (EPA)https://www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Across these figures, the biggest standout is that recycling generally delivers large climate and energy gains, such as saving about 74% of energy with steel recycling and cutting emissions by roughly 3.4 metric tons of CO2e per ton of plastic bottles, while composting and anaerobic digestion can accelerate waste-to-value conversion from months to as little as 14 to 30 days or turn organic waste into 100 to 600 m3 of biogas per ton of volatile solids.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Rachel Svensson. (2026, February 13). Holiday Waste Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/holiday-waste-statistics
MLA
Rachel Svensson. "Holiday Waste Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/holiday-waste-statistics.
Chicago
Rachel Svensson. 2026. "Holiday Waste Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/holiday-waste-statistics.
Sources & references
34 datasets cited across this report
+13 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)