Recycling & Reducing Waste at Christmas

Recycling & Reducing Waste at Christmas
21 December 2015 0 view(s) 3 min read
Recycling & Reducing Waste at Christmas
As we celebrate, decorate, give gifts and travel through the Christmas period, one thing that we shouldn’t avoid is recycling. It has been found that 30% more waste is produced through the festive period, such as Christmas trees, wrapping paper, cards, plastic waste and food waste. Hopefully, these festive tips will help reduce the waste sent to landfills! Wrapping Paperwrappingpaper It has been found that Brits use and bin around 300,000 tonnes of Christmas packaging each year. That is equivalent to wrapping Big Ben 260,000 times, the London Eye 50,000 times, and the Angel of the North, 2 million times. Ways to reduce this;
  • Replace shiny wrapping paper with recyclable wrapping paper – shinny wrapping paper cannot be recycled, along with the majority of ribbons.
  • Reusable gift bags – these can not only be recycled but can be used year after year.
  • One big present sack – using a Santa sack to store the gifts you are giving to one person can be a good way to avoid wrapping each and every present.
  • Old maps, newspapers and calendars – using these to wrap your presents is a unique way to reuse and upcycle.
  • Fabric wraps – using old T-shirts, tea-towels etc, is a creative and eco way to avoid wrapping paper waste.
Christmas Cardscards We send over a billion Christmas Cards each year in the UK – just for them to be taken to landfill or recycled if we’re lucky?! Ways to reduce this;
  • Upcycle last year’s Christmas cards into gift tags!
  • Re-send Christmas cards to close family and friends – why send another one just for it to say the same as last year?
  • Received a Christmas card with multiple pages inside? Why not replace the pages and re-send the card the following year?
  • Creating your own Christmas cards is a great way to save money.
  • Why not send an electronic Christmas card via email or social media? This saves money and unnecessary paper.
Christmas Treesxmastress Once Christmas trees are up and decorated around homes in the UK, that is initially when the Christmas spirit kicks in. But what can be done to create an eco-friendly Christmas tree?
  • Generally, real Christmas trees are the eco-friendly option over artificial trees. They are classed as an agricultural resource that we rely upon. It has been found that real Christmas trees absorb carbon dioxide and other gases, whilst emitting oxygen. And once a tree is chopped down, seeds are planted to replace it – usually for every 1 tree chopped down, 3 seeds are planted.
  • Artificial Christmas trees can still be seen as an eco-friendly option as they can be reused year after year. Although they are manufactured from a non-recyclable material, therefore, will be sent to landfills at the end of their product life.
  • Wood or wall Christmas trees – there are plenty of tutorials online on how to create your own Christmas tree from left over wood. This is an eco-friendly and unique way to create your own tree. Or you can even buy Christmas Tree wall stickers. These are a different way to have a Christmas tree; easy-peel stickers, that are space saving and cheap – they can also be decorated by pinning lights and baubles to the wall.
Christmas Dinnerdinner Christmas is a time for over indulgence, but is all the food cooked over the festive period needed? Last year, according to Unilever, 4.2 million Christmas dinners were wasted across the UK. Ways to reduce the waste;
  • Make a list and stick to it – plan how much food is needed for Christmas day, and then make meal plans for the following week to use up fresh leftovers that go off quickly.
  • Freeze what you can – splitting food into portions and freezing them to be used for meals or side dishes at a later date.
  • Get creative with leftovers – leftovers can be turned into quick and easy meals, from pasta dishes to pies, soups and risottos.
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