Valley woman creates eco-friendly gift wraps, just in time for the holiday season

Tis' the season for giving and getting, but most wrapping papers and bags are not recyclable.

The wrapping papers have to go somewhere, and mostly to landfills. One Valley woman, however, has a goal to make the holidays green.

"I'm sure everyone has experienced this over the holidays, where you're just literally piling trash, trash, trash, and I thought, 'this is just not right,'" said Hethyre Baez, who started making her own reusable gift wrap out of fabric. Its popularity with her family has led her to sell it as ggwrap (Gift Green Wrap).

ggwrap is reusable and eco-friendly, with no scissors, paper, tape, or a box required.

"Personally I keep it within my house," said Baez. "I have three daughters. I have extended family. We just sort of reuse it for every holiday, birthday occasion within our home. You can give it away, of course, and I wouldn't ask for it back, although some people do. When you give it away, it really does become part of the gift."

The eco-friendly wrap works with people putting the gift in the center, folding the flaps around it, and tie the bow.

"One is a small that you can put gift cards, jewelry, little small trinkets in," said Baez. "The next is a larger size, which is a 12 by 12, so that's a shirt box size, so anything you can fit in a normal shirt box would work for that. We have a very large bag, so that's for more awkward items, like a basketball or a coffee maker something like that."

ggwrap also comes with reusable bows and ribbons. Each gift wrap is reversible, and can be used for most occasions. Once all the gifts are open, one would simply fold the ggwrap back up, and put it away for next year.

"They all lay really flat, and it's nice, and they're just ready to use next time you have an occasion," said Baez, who is hoping to grow the company. Meanwhile, her main goal is to get more people thinking about the environment, while still enjoying the holidays.

"What you don't realize is how bad the holidays are for the environment," said Baez. "It's 25% more waste from November to January 1, then any other time of the year."

ggwrap just hit the Amazon market about two weeks ago. A 32-piece set costs about $50.