The most popular gift this season is something everybody wants to forget.

This Christmas there will be something that no house, store or business will be without. It's something people just can't get enough of, but it won't be the latest Britney Spears CD, Harry Potter book, or flashy technological toy. Although it will span the boundaries of race, gender, and religion, it won't be something we respect, or even want to think about. Everyone will keep going back for more of it, but will get rid of it as soon as they have it.

The most pervasive item this year – the one thing that everyone, everywhere will have – is garbage.

We don't like to think about what we throw away, but our trash doesn't just magically disappear once the garbage truck comes. The average American throws away four pounds of trash a day, and that doesn't account for all the waste we never even see. All the processes involved in making products have an environmental impact which we rarely even think about: getting the raw materials needed to create a product can mean cutting down trees or drilling and mining the land, which produces unused byproducts that must ultimately be disposed of; manufacturing can create all sorts of waste, ranging from hazardous chemicals to paper used to help oversee the production, and distribution consumes lots of packing paper, plastic, and Styrofoam. It's not uncommon for products to have to be shipped several times before they reach the consumer, multiplying the amount of waste considerably. Marketing has created a whole category unto itself that generates an enormous amount of paper advertisements: most end up in the trash. And, if you take into consideration that everything involved in making a product is itself a product that created waste when made, the slime trail of trash increases exponentially.

We send everything to landfills, where the trash is typically compacted and sealed into an airtight hole in the ground. Unable to decompose, it becomes perfectly preserved. Decades from when you throw it away, your trash will more than likely be in better shape than your house, car, and furniture, making it a veritable time capsule of precisely all the things we don't want posterity to see. Far from being taken care of, our garbage becomes even more of a problem. Our throwaway culture leaves a legacy of trash, where the most disposable asset of all is the future. With millions of people dumping 1,500 pounds a year (on average), it's getting time to wake up and smell the garbage.

Decreasing the amount of trash you have this holiday season doesn't have to be hard, but, considering the numbers, it'll definitely be worthwhile. Cutting back on how much you throw away by as little as 1% can have an enormous cumulative effect. What may look like only a little bit of trash can really add up over the weeks, months or years, and it's your choice whether you want to add it to the problem or to the solution. When you take into account that hundreds of thousands of people will be cutting back on their waste too, then simple efforts at being trash conscious end up snowballing into a significant positive impact. So, while you might not have time this holiday season to start a compost heap or plant a tree, deciding to forgo wrapping paper this Christmas will not only keep plenty of paper from hitting the dumpster, it'll also free up more time to spend with family and friends. You don't have to be a maniacal recycler or go out of your way to find special products at green friendly stores when simple things like using cloth napkins or buying some things in bulk can keep thousands of pounds of trash from adding to the growing landfill problem. Resource conservation can be a painless thing to do; no excuses, procrastination, or self-defeating attitudes necessary.

The most important thing you can do to reduce waste this holiday season will be to remain conscious of what you buy. Recycling is definitely good, but it only goes so far. The best way to lower the amount of things you throw away is to buy less stuff in the first place. When purchasing a product, look to see if it's economically packaged or, if possible, buy it in a larger size. The less garbage goes into your home in, the less will get trucked off to a landfill.

Sometimes, the most appropriate thing to do is ask yourself whether you even need what you're buying. The constant pressure of advertising telling us to consume, consume, consume has become a big part of the holiday season whether we like it or not, and it's easy to become over-materialistic. Stay aware when shopping and try not to fall into the all-too-common marketing-induced trance. Take time to question what you're doing. Why do you want what you're buying? How will the product actually increase your quality of life? Where will the product be a month from now? Six months? A year? If it's just going to be trash, do you even need it? After all, the holidays are about interpersonal relationships, not gifts and credit card debt.