Sustainable Thanksgiving: How to throw an eco-friendly feast.

If you have guests contributing dishes to the feast, keep tabs on what everyone’s bringing so you can plan accordingly and avoid making too much food — or duplicating a guest’s dish.

Engage your family and friends in a quest for a more sustainable holiday. If they’re contributing to the feast, ask them to bring food in reusable dishes rather than disposable ones.

Challenge guests to eat everything on their plates to cut down on wasted food. And make sure everyone knows where the recycling and compost bins are.

Around 83 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from food come from its production. The less prepared and packaged food you buy, the lower your carbon footprint.

Try your hand at baking dinner rolls, pies, and other items you might otherwise buy pre-made.

Early November is a good time to clean out your cupboards — chances are, some of the ingredients on your list are hiding in the back.

If one recipe calls for a half container of broth, find another recipe that will use the rest — it could be something you’ll make a few days later.

If no one ever touches the jello-carrot salad besides Uncle Don, save yourself time and skip it — or make a much smaller dish of it.

Similarly, if past years have found you up to your ears in leftover mashed potatoes, make a smaller batch this year. Portion control isn't a bad thing ... even on Thanksgiving.

Resist the temptation to buy disposable plastic containers for leftovers. Instead, figure out what you’re going to need to store, and choose the appropriate eco-friendly solutions — which we’ll describe more later on.

Make room for groceries and leftovers in the freezer and fridge so that you can find what you need quickly when it’s go-time — plus your leftovers won’t be as likely to get lost and forgotten.

Don't forget to double-check your grocery list too. Make sure everything you need is on your list to avoid extra trips to the store.

Before you start prepping, set out a container for trash, one for recycling, and one for compost. Put them right next to your prep space for easy access.

If you have guests helping you prepare, make sure the containers are clearly labeled for your helpers.

Check all of your plastic packaging for the recycle symbol, and find out which types of recyclables your curbside service accepts. Don’t be a “wishcycler” who tosses everything with a symbol in the bin.

Collect the plastics your service doesn’t accept, and take them to a facility that does. Meanwhile, rinse and recycle everything you can — aluminum, cardboard, plastics, and glass.

Try to cut away as little of your vegetables as possible to reduce waste. You may also want to reconsider peeling the carrots and potatoes — the skins are healthy and delicious!

Instead of composting your vegetable scraps, freeze them to make homemade stock later on.

If you usually cook your turkey in a disposable pan, maybe it’s time to invest in a good-quality roasting pan instead. You’ll be able to use it for holiday feasts forever more — waste-free.

Plan your cooking to minimize the use of the oven and stove top.

Double-up in the oven when dishes need to be cooked at the same temperature. On the stovetop, keep the temperature as low as possible to use less energy and prevent over-cooking.

Find a timer app for your phone that can handle multiple timers at once. Set timers for everything that could overcook or burn — especially the bread.

While you’re cooking dishes on the stove, turn the hood exhaust to vent moisture and cooking fumes outside for better air quality in the kitchen.

Avoid using plastic disposable dishes, cups, and utensils. If you’re having more guests than you have dishes, see if you can borrow some place settings. If yours will be a large affair, you can rent dishes from a party supply store for not much more than it would cost to go disposable.

If you use disposable plates, silverware, or cups, opt for compostable or biodegradable.

Cloth napkins and reusable paper towels result in zero waste, and you can use them throughout the holidays and beyond.

They’re inexpensive to buy, or if you’re crafty, you can make them yourself.

It’s tempting to fill up your plate at any feast, but eyes are often bigger than stomachs. To encourage guests to take less at the outset, put smaller serving spoons in each dish.

Non-meat scraps go in the compost bag. If you don’t compost, see if your city offers curbside compost pickup, or find a city compost pile where you can drop off your food scraps.

Save all your meat scraps for Fido, or send them along for a guest’s dog.

Washing your dishes in the dishwasher uses less water than washing them by hand, but it may take a few rounds. Use less water and save energy by filling the dishwasher full and running the machine on the shortest cycle.

Forego the drying cycle — instead, open the door after the last rinse, and let the dishes air-dry, or dry them with a towel.

Organize your leftovers in non-plastic options (below) so your fridge doesn’t fill up willy-nilly with dishes you can’t identify and that make it difficult to see what you’ve got. Send leftovers home with guests too so they aren't all on your plate, literally.

Then, before they go bad, freeze the leftovers you won’t have time to eat.

Cleaning up also involves wiping down the tables, chairs, floors, and counters all that food was prepped and eaten on.

Try out some sustainable swaps for cleaning this year by using cleaning concentrates that fill up big reusable glass spray bottles or compostable kitchen wipes.

Sustainable holidays: Eco-friendly decorating, gifting, & wrapping.

Here’s how to green your holiday celebrations so they’re festive but also eco-friendly and sustainable.

10 household items & single-use packaging you can easily reuse.

Find out what you can do with all that packaging for household products you buy all the time (instead of throwing it away).

How to use less plastic with kids at home.

Take out the trash in your kiddo's routine and teach them how to reduce waste and make environmentally friendly choices at home and on the go.

6 quick tips to start going zero waste.

Zero waste can sound impossible, but the truth about zero waste is a little more complicated and a lot more doable.