A Low Waste Christmas
Christmas can be a stressful time for someone wanting to live a more sustainable lifestyle if they don't know where to start! Last year was my first Christmas trying to live zerowaste and although it wasn't as bad as expected I have definitely learnt a few hints and tips over the last year to make this year even less wasteful!
2017 statistics revealed that people living in the UK throw away 108 million rolls of wrapping paper every Christmas and a poll of 2,000 adults revealed that 40 million rolls of sticky tape and 100 million bin bags full of packaging is thrown out every season. That is INSANE!
No need to be glum or bah humbug though! There are many small changes we can implement into our festive season which will make Christmas less wasteful and still as jolly! Here are some of my top tips and tricks on how to be a little more eco-friendly this Christmas.
Advent calendars (for next year):
- Fabric calendars with pockets.
- Wooden calendars with draws.
*Fill them up with notes, essential oils, coupons, jewellery, beauty products such as lip balm or nail polish etc. There are loads of awesome ideas here.
- Make your own advent calendar using envelopes, toilet tubes, socks and jars. Get your ideas here.
- Advent candles.
- A trend I saw last year for children was to wrap up 24 books so 1 could be unwrapped and read each day. You can rent books from your local library, book swap with other children or shop secondhand and wrap the books in fabric.
If you end up buying a regular advent calendar don't stress over it. Recycle as many of the materials you can (be sure to check your local recycling facility first to see what they can take). You can keep the plastic insert for making plaster of paris decorations.
You can make a plaster of paris alternative using flour and water as a zero waste option. Recipe here.
Once the decorations are dry, you can paint them and use them for crafts.
Christmas tree/decorations:
- If you already own an artificial tree... keep using it!
Look after it and it will keep for years.
- Buy yourself a potted tree. This way you can replant it and look after
it for the next year. If it dies make sure you compost it!
-Buy a large house plant and decorate it
(Who says you have to buy a Fir tree!)
- Make a wall Christmas tree out of drift wood or sticks.
- Keep reusing your decorations or buy them secondhand.
- Make your own tree decorations from dehydrated oranges. Recipe here.
-Save your orange peel. Cut shapes out of the peel and connect them with string to make a garland.
Around the dinner table:
- Make your own mince pies (It is estimated that a staggering 74 million mince pies are thrown away each Christmas).
*Recipe here.
- Eat a more plant based Christmas dinner. Not only will you be saving the life of an animal, but you will also be helping the planet and eating healthier. There are lots of meat alternatives out there but I always go for the classic nut roast! Yum.
- Buy your veggies from your local farmers market.
- Compost your food scraps!
- Eat leftovers or freeze them.
- Avoid balloons, party poppers and other wasteful decorations.
- Most crackers cannot be recycled as they are coated in a plastic film/mixed material. Why not make your own?
- Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones.
Gifts and cards:
- Check out my eco low waste gift guide for present ideas.
Most cards now contain glitter or other mixed materials and cannot be recycled.
The average person buys around 30 cards a year and the USA, UK and Australia together purchase 10 billion cards annually. To produce this significant number of greeting cards excluding the envelope, 78,000 tonnes of paper is needed which is equivalent to 312,000 trees!
- E-cards are a good alternative to sending regular Christmas cards. I love this site.
- If you do want to send paper cards, try to find them without the plastic sleeve and make sure there are no other materials such as glitter on them. You could even get crafty and make your own!
- I reuse Christmas cards every year by cutting off the back page and writing on the back of the front page like a postcard.
- Make sure you compost or recycle the cards you can after Christmas.
Wrapping gifts
Statistics show that brits use enough wrapping paper every Christmas to go around the Earth 22 times. I don't understand it! We are literally buying expensive and beautifully printed paper to rip it off a gift and throw away... so wasteful!
Most wrapping paper is not recyclable due to containing mixed materials and glitter so here are some alternatives.
*You can use old clothing, scarves, fabric from secondhand shops.
- Brown paper and string.
- Gift bag with unwrapped presents inside (and reuse it afterwards).
- Tissue paper.
- Reuse old wrapping paper.
-Use paper tape instead of plastic. Or simply use some string.
- Decorate your parcel with natural foliage such as Holly leaves, pinecones and
pine leaves etc.
