You're Not Cheap, You're Just Being Green; Newsweek Trumpets 'Regifting'

In what's certain to be an article that can be recycled every Christmas season, Newsweek's Daniel Stone offers Ebenezer Scrooges throughout the land an easy excuse for regifting. You're not being cheap, you're just being green.

His story was originally published on December 13, but is being cycled through the top headlines on the magazine's Web site today (see screencap at right), with just seven days left to Christmas:

It usually goes something like this: you open a beautifully wrapped box only to find one of those tacky holiday sweaters with snowmen on it. Or maybe it's a desk lamp made completely of peanut brittle. Or something super useful, like that battery-operated singing fish that hangs on your wall. Even as you smile and say "thank you," you tell yourself, "This goes in the regifting pile." The problem is—and come on, you know this—regifting is a major faux pas. It makes you look like a complete ingrate should the gift-giver find out. And if the new receiver discovers your thoughtless attempt to pawn off a piece of junk, you'll quickly be in your social circle's proverbial doghouse.

But things could be different this year. Environmentalists are finding inherent value in the idea of regifting. They're removing the tacky connotation and rebranding it as green and earth friendly. "It's a way to turn trash into something useful. That's as green as it gets," says Urvashi Rangan, the editor of Greener Choices, the enviro-focused online hub of Consumer Reports.

For Rangan and a growing group of environmentalists, passing on an unwanted gift is a way to save money and resources, and reduce the amount of waste headed for landfills. "[Regifting] tends to be a really sexy topic when you're in a recession," Rangan says. "It really helps us play into the frugality that people are looking for."

Stone insists that "[f]or all the taboos, and occasional hazards, recycling a gift can still can be done responsibly and with tact.

Newsweek is hardly alone in preaching green sermons on major holidays. In October I noted how MSNBC.com was railing against the eco-evils of Halloween while offering tips for having a green monster mash:

Forget zombies, vampires, ghosts and goblins. TodayShow.com contributor Marisa Belger is spooked by how eco-unfriendly Halloween is (via Daily Gut):

Halloween can be an especially eco-unfriendly holiday. There’s the single-use plastic of red devil costumes, countless candy wrappers (not to mention the refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial color of the candies themselves) and disposable decorations. According to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, Americans will spend more than $5 million on Halloween paraphernalia this year. That’s more than $5 million worth of stuff that ultimately ends up impacting the earth.