Christmas is around the corner, the decorations are up and many of us will already have gifts bought and ready to wrap. But as we look forward to all the excitement of celebrating with good food and friends and family, have we considered the impact of our festivities on the environment? Here we give you some ideas of ways to make your Christmas a little more sustainable – remember little changes from many people have a big impact.
Get creative with your crackers
We all love a Christmas cracker, and it wouldn’t feel right without them. But its 2021, and we must think of the effects of silly plastic frogs and moustaches that go straight in the bin every year. Most Christmas crackers are not recyclable, but you can buy FSC-certified crackers or reusable crackers that you fill yourself with eco-friendly festive prizes.
Don’t forget about your lights
Use lights made up with LED bulbs for Christmas decorating as they use less energy, last longer and look just as good as traditional alternatives! Also don’t forget to switch off your lights at night – not only will this save you on energy bills, its also much safer.
Gift an experience
Reduce the demand for physical materials and resources by giving the gift of an experience like a meal or tickets to an event.
Sustainable wrapping
Brown paper is the most sustainable way of wrapping but if you’re buying wrapping paper, choose something free of foil or glitter as these varieties cannot be recycled – make sure any paper suitable for recycling has tape removed first! You should reuse gift bags, boxes, tissue paper and ribbon kept from last Christmas. If you didn’t save any, make a conscious effort to do it this year.
Minimise food waste
It has been said that food is the most important factor in everyday individual environmental impact, and Christmas is one of the most wasteful few days of the year. UK residents waste an estimated 54 million platefuls of food over the festive period due to majority of people over-buying. You can make Christmas dinner more sustainable simply by planning in advance and avoiding the temptation of multi buy offers as well as utilising any leftovers rather than throwing them away. Also, shopping locally will reduce travel emissions and you can play your part in supporting independent businesses.
With all the stress and excitement of the big day, many of us don’t even think twice about the impacts of our Christmas celebrations on the environment. If you consider the amount of plastic used from wrapping, to food to decorations, you can imagine the amount we waste each year. That’s why we put this post together, to give you some simple ideas of ways to be a bit more sustainable this year!
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