WASHINGTON — From Easter egg hunts to jelly bean trails, the holiday can bring on a lot of candy-filled fun.
Here are a few ideas to lessen your environmental footprint during the festivities. Using natural materials for Easter eggs and using food to dye eggs are good options, according to experts.
Less plastic, an egg-cellent choice
"Easter baskets provide a great opportunity for rethinking waste generation and starting new waste-free traditions," said Megan Litke, Director of Sustainability at American University’s Office of Sustainability.
"Using plastic eggs and plastic grass is not only a source of plastic waste but using them outside can create opportunities for birds and other animals to ingest plastic," Litke told WUSA9.
Some alternatives she suggested include using fabric eggs such as those made of wool or real eggs.
Other alternatives include paper mache eggs and wooden eggs. There are also recycled plastic eggs available.
Litke said using paper grass to stuff baskets is also a good alternative to plastic grass.
"Alternatives like fabric eggs, real eggs, paper grass and other natural materials are festive and more environmentally friendly and safe for animals. Saving real eggshells, filling them with paper confetti and decorating them is already a great tradition in some cultures," she said.
Food for thought, food for color
When it comes to dyeing Easter eggs, you can save on packaging and shipping by using left over food to dye eggs. And you may just have some of it in your pantry or fridge.
"Purple cabbage, beets, onion peels, and other vegetables can also be used to make homemade dyes as a fun project with children if you are looking to avoid store bought dyes," Litke suggested.
WUSA9 tested out ways to dye eggs using food. We used turmeric, blueberries and strawberries then combined it with water and vinegar and let it soak for an hour. Here's how we did it.
- *3 - 8oz mason jars with lids
- 3 - boiled eggs
- 1 to 2 ounces of strawberries pureed
- 1 to 2 ounces of blueberries pureed
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of turmeric
We placed the turmeric in a mason jar and added water (about 4 ounces) then added about 2 ounces of vinegar. We put the egg in and let it soak.
We put about 2 to 3 ounces of the fruit in mason jars and added about 3 ounces of water and filled the rest with vinegar. We let this soak for about an hour.
After an hour, the turmeric and vinegar solution gave a bright yellow color and the blueberries gave a blue color. The egg dipped in strawberry, water and vinegar gave a faint pink-like color and likely needed to soak longer. For a standardized recipe to dye eggs on a larger scale, Better Homes and Gardens has some tips.
Litke said making just a few changes at a time can still make a difference.
"You don’t need to change everything at once, but each new tradition that reduces waste has an impact," Litke said.