How to Have a Zero Waste Thanksgiving

I admit I’m a sucker for Thanksgiving foods. Every year I look forward to them. Fall produce has a special place in my heart (looking at you sweet potatoes). If you love celebrating with friends and family like me (be it for Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving), it’s a great time to come together, talk, and feast. There’s just one problem: It takes a huge toll on the environment. Between all the traveling, food, and waste we produce in this one day, it’s not exactly sustainable. That’s why I’ve devised this simple guide to help you turn this holiday around: Here’s how to have a zero waste Thanksgiving! Also, FYI – this guide will help you plan a zero waste Friendsgiving too!

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I want to host a zero waste thanksgiving – what should I do?

First off, I think it’s great you want to host a holiday at your home! Honestly, it’s better off you stay local and don’t travel on this holiday. The less cars on the road the better.

The amount people travel via car, train, and airplane this holiday takes a huge toll on the environment. Nearly 80 million Americans travel during Thanksgiving: Can you imagine the amount of pollution that adds to the environment?

After all, according to the New York Times, one round trip flight from New York to Europe or San Francisco creates a warming effect equivalent to 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person.

The best way to have an zero waste Thanksgiving is still to stay home and host dinner yourself. There, you certainly have the most control over the amount of waste being created too (because it’s your house). You can run things the way you see fit.

Here are several tips I have for you to make your thanksgiving as waste free as possible.

Shop local:

Visit your local farmers market to pick up some fresh produce for your dinner.

The food there didn’t have to travel as far to get to you either, which cuts carbon emissions down even more. Plus, everything is in season, meaning it tastes fresher and has more nutrients!

To keep things as plastic free as possible, bring reusable produce bags and tote bags with you to the market. Most markets will sell food package-free and many items won’t have those annoying produce stickers on them either.

Just plop the fresh produce into your produce bags, no single use plastic needed. Here are my zero waste farmers market essentials (they keep me waste free at the market).

Meal ideas:

Personally, I love stuffed mushrooms, mashed sweet potatoes, stuffed artichokes and roasted veggies.

You can find so many meal ideas on Pinterest it’s not even funny (feel free to follow my zero waste recipes board for some inspiration).

Keep things simple and try to use seasonal, locally sourced produce in your meals whenever possible.

Usually, during this time of year, you can find carrots, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, apples, pumpkin, butternut squash, winter squash, potatoes, parnsips and turnips at the farmers market.

Utilize that to your advantage and whip up some amazing seasonal dishes! Here are two vegetarian mains from Going Zero Waste that will really get your guests talking.

Serve in glassware or ceramic:

When it comes time to serve all the food, consider putting it in containers with lids. I personally love glassware with snap on lids. It makes for easy cleanup and you can immediately pop any leftovers straight into the fridge.

Sustainable turkey:

Really want a turkey? Purchase one from the farmers market, if there’s a meat stand there. Usually you’ll have to order it ahead of time, but it’s well worth it.

The woman who sells meat at my market knows me by name! We aren’t huge meat-eaters, but I do have a soft spot for her chicken (which is basically the only meat I eat). And it feels really nice to know I’m supporting a small local farmer and her family, instead of a huge factory farm. Plus, come November, she has turkey!

If you can’t get one from the farmers market, buy an organic one. Turkeys are usually given hormones to speed their growth and eat feed grown in pesticides. Yuck.

Plus they’re given a slew of antibiotics (doesn’t exactly sound appetizing).

At least with an organic turkey, you know it was raised without hormones, antibiotics, got to graze in open pastures, and eat feed free of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

Or skip the turkey:

If you really want to have a zero waste Thanksgiving, ditch the turkey completely.

It’s typically very hard to get any kind of meat completely plastic free anyway, since it usually comes wrapped in plastic film. Worse than that though, an estimated 46 million turkeys are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone.

Raising livestock requires a lot of resources: Their water footprint is incredibly high compared to plants (think about the water needed to make their feed, wash them and hydrate them with). Plants on the other hand, don’t have nearly as large a water footprint as meat, making them undeniably better for the environment.

Not to mention, most of the turkeys killed are not raised organically either, but instead treated cruelly in inhumane conditions. Consider avoiding turkey this year, and instead focus on creating a plant-based feast.

Break out the fine china (or compostable dishes):

Americans create 4.9 pounds of trash per day, and it jumps 25% during the holidays! Lets cut back on that by choosing reusable cutlery, plates and napkins this holiday (and hopefully, every day!).

Avoid purchasing single-use plastic plates, cups, utensils, and napkins to use. Instead, pull out some silverware and chinaware you don’t normally use.

Maybe that set that’s been sitting in your drawer or cabinet for a while? Or, just use the regular ceramic plates and stainless steel cutlery you usually eat on. As long as you can reuse it, do it. This will create the perfect zero waste Thanksgiving.

If it’s really too much work, consider using some compostable plates and utensils like the ones I use from Bambu. Use the code GREENIFYME for 10% off your order! I setup a little compost station where all my guests can dump their plates into at the end of the night. Certainly makes for easy cleanup, which is nice, considering I don’t have a dishwasher.

Keep in mind this only works if you have access to composting! If it’s just going to end up in a landfill, opt for reusables.

Napkins:

I love reusable cloth napkins. I use them on a daily basis and they save SO much money. But for hosting, I like to break out the pretty linen napkins I have from BedThreads.

I have sets in pretty fall colors like rust orange, forest green and turmeric. They are so stunning and such a hit. I love putting a cute little felt pumpkin napkin ring on them for added cuteness.

You can wash all of them with your laundry when the day is out. I recommend using a mild liquid detergent and washing on cold/delicate setting for the best results. This will make them last longer!

I pair my linen napkins with BedThread linen tablecloths too. And I get so many compliments!

No microplastics here! Linen is a sustainable fabric that’s compostable at the end of its life too (if it’s made from 100% linen, like BedThread’s linen is). Highly suggest the build your own table bundle (you’ll save money)!

Drinks:

Also, please don’t use bottled water at your Thanksgiving celebration.

There are so many reasons why you should avoid plastic water bottles: Just use filtered tap water instead. The Larq Pitcher is a great filter option: It removes a wide range of pollutants like lead, chlorine, PFAS, VOCS + more. Plus, it replaces more than 450+ standard single-use bottles.

If you buy any other drinks for the occasion, try to make sure they’re plastic-free and come in a glass bottle (ex: Wine, beer, champagne).

Glass is so much easier to recycle than plastic. Check and see if your local farmers market sells any wine or beer (my farmers market just recently expanded to include a wine guy! His wine is locally made – what could be better?).

Whatever you decide to serve, make sure to put it in reusable glass cups.

Decor:

Instead of purchasing a bunch of plastic decorations that will just end up in the landfill, I recommend going the natural route.

I decorated my tablespace with beeswax candles, apples, foraged leaves, pumpkins and gourds. Plus a linen tablerunner, tablecloth, and napkins all in earthy fall colors!

I also love going to my local plant nursery and seeing what natural decorations I can find there. The one by me sells beautiful decorative corn I like to hang on my front door.

Chrysanthemum flowers are also very popular this time of year, and you can find them everywhere (challenge yourself to try and find some plastic free).

You can get as creative as you like, however, simple is best. At the end of their life, you can compost all these decorations (or in a pumpkin’s case, make it into pumpkin puree for pies and soups).

Compost the food scraps:

Food waste is a serious problem in the U.S. Two-thirds of the food discarded in the U.S. homes is edible, according to a study done on three major cities: Denver, Nashville, and New York.

Essentially, this could add up to 68 million meals being thrown away in these three cities alone. Isn’t that crazy? Imagine what Thanksgiving would look like in these cities, considering most people cook too much food on this holiday. Not a zero waste Thanksgiving at all.

Thankfully, there is a solution: Compost your food scraps! Don’t let them go to waste. I save my food scraps in my apartment and take them every weekend to a food scrap drop off location. They also just started mandating curbside composting in New York, which is fantastic!

If you have enough room in your house, consider composting at home. Have a friend that’s a gardener? Give them the compost your food scraps create.

Or, look around your local community: See any trees lining your streets that need a little extra nutrients? Dump some compost in their soil beds. Most of the soil in trees planted near roadways aren’t exactly fertile: Giving them some compost is a great way to help them out!

Save the leftovers:

Don’t let any good food go to waste! Save your leftovers for another day, or give some away to your guests. But whatever scraps don’t get eaten, make sure to compost! Doing this will make sure nothing goes to waste.

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I want to have a zero waste thanksgiving as a guest – what should I do?

Not hosting a Thanksgiving feast? No worries, neither am I. I usually end up going to a relative (either on my side, or my husband’s) for Thanksgiving. However, I have been hosting Friendsgiving since moving in to our apartment!

I recommend trying to stay as local as possible for holidays. Traveling far distances produces a lot of pollution, so going long distances isn’t recommended. But there is good news: According to a study done by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, there are ways to travel in a more eco-friendly manner: Try to avoid flying, driving alone, and driving big cars. Instead, when you can, choose the train, bus, or carpool with 2 to 3 people.

On another note, please remember that you’ll be dining as someone’s guest. This mean you’ll have much less control over how wasteful things get. That said, there are still things you can do to make your Thanksgiving as low waste as possible.

Here’s how to have a zero waste Thanksgiving, even as a guest:

Ask for reusables:

If you notice the hostess has set the table with disposables, try not to get worked up. Instead, calmly and politely ask the hostess if you can have a real plate, utensils and cup.

Offer to wash it yourself at the end of the night. I’ve done this several times and have never been told no. As long as you ask politely, they should be open to it.

Use it as an opportunity to talk about zero waste living – it could start up a great conversation!

Arrive with a hostess gift:

Showing gratitude and appreciation for your invite to dinner is so important. I love hostess gifts. Keep them as zero waste as possible by sticking with locally sourced wine in a glass bottle, plastic free flowers, or fresh baked consumables (like cookies, brownies or a cake).

You have full control over this gift, so you can take comfort in knowing it’s eco-conscious.

Bring a dish of your own:

Whenever Thanksgiving rolls around, it’s polite to ask your hostess if she needs any help making some of the dishes.

Perhaps offer to cook one yourself and bring it over. You have full control over this dish, so I suggest going to the farmers market and buying the ingredients for it plastic free. Use a produce bag and some reusable totes to gather your ingredients!

Then, when you’re ready to bring it over to the hostess’ house, place it in a reusable container. Even if all you have is Tupperware, it’s better than nothing. You can also use glassware, or put your meal on a big plate, covered with beeswax wrap.

Don’t forget to take it home with you at the end of the day!

Ask if you can take some leftovers home:

If you feel comfortable enough, or notice the hostess is swamped in leftovers, ask to take some home. You can reuse them in other dishes, or eat it for dinner or lunch sometime next week. Good food should never go to waste!

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What about Black Friday?

Consumerism would have you believe Black Friday is the most important part of Thanksgiving. Sadly, for some people it is. But my advice? Avoid it.

A good deal is tempting, but at what cost? Consumerism can seriously hurt the environment. especially when its done in massive quantities, like on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. By being lured into a good deal, you’re more likely to buy things you don’t necessarily need. Things that will, eventually, be lost, thrown away, and end up in a landfill. Is that what you want?

Think about what you buy, before you buy it. Consider using it as an opportunity to stock up on sustainable goods, or items you REALLY need. Otherwise, the best thing to do is opt out!

Will you be having a zero waste Thanksgiving this year?

For more zero waste holiday inspo, check out my 3 Zero Waste Alternatives to Black Friday.

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