How to Have a Sustainable Christmas
It’s no secret how many things go to waste at Christmas. Old toys, clothes and uneaten food are all victims of the rush, and when half the world is participating, the rubbish adds up quickly. Rest assured, though, as there are plenty of ways to make Christmas more sustainable for your family and few of them require a big change in traditions. Here are our top tips on how to have an eco-friendly Christmas this year - and every year after!
How to Recycle at Christmas
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to recycle your Christmas commodities. From buying a new kind of wrapping paper to giving hand-me-downs to charity, it doesn’t take a huge change to your traditions to take steps towards sustainability. If you’re wondering how to recycle at Christmas, here are a few suggestions to help you get started.
Buy Recycled Wrapping Paper
As our eco-awareness grows, options for sustainable Christmas wrapping paper have become much easier to find. While it can be tempting to grab the rolls of Peppa Pig wrapping paper from the bucket by the till for wrapping gifts, taking a few extra minutes to find more eco-friendly options can have a big impact on your carbon footprint. If you want to get the kids involved, you can even buy simple brown paper rolls and spend time drawing designs onto them with felt tips and crayons. It won’t look as bright or as busy as coated wrapping paper, but it’s far more unique!
Give Reusable Gifts
If you are gifting for older teens, they’ll probably already be aware of the cultural shift towards eco-friendly and sustainable living (and hopefully, they’re on board!). Sustainable gifts such as reusable water bottles, refillable deodorants and multipurpose jars are all great options for anyone who wants to reduce their single-use plastic waste. Sustainable and reusable gifts are a great way of minimising the impact on the environment that carries well into the new year and helps reduce waste.
Give Hand-me-downs
Giving and receiving second-hand gifts might not be particularly glamorous, but if your family doesn’t turn their nose up at it, it can actually be an incredibly thoughtful thing to do.
Receiving a family heirloom from a parent or a special toy your little one really likes from an older sibling can be just as exciting as a new Lego set or gift voucher. However, if you know that second-hand gifts aren’t going to fly with your own family, giving them away to charity is a great way to stop them from going to waste.
Reuse the Christmas Tree
Nothing beats the smell of pine in the living room on Christmas morning, but buying a real tree means bringing home a new one every year. If you’d rather not replace your real tree with a reusable plastic tree as part of committing to a plastic-free Christmas, you can always buy a potted tree to bring out again next year.
However, if you don’t have a garden to keep it in, or you’re not happy keeping pines long-term, you can always recycle your tree by chopping up the wood and drying it for firewood. You can also preserve the needles for craft projects or use the logs as brand-new lawn edging. Failing that, we can always help you recycle your Christmas tree!
How to Have a Sustainable Christmas Dinner
Nothing puts the icing on Christmas quite like a good roast dinner. Whether you’re a traditional turkey family or you prefer to cook lamb, pork or vegetarian roasts, cooking and dining together is arguably one of the best parts of Christmas day. However, in the UK we waste 270,000 tons of food during the Christmas holidays!
Here are a few tips to make your Christmas dinner as sustainable as possible, so that you can enjoy a guilt-free roast!
Buy Local Groceries
Buying local meat is much better for the environment than flying chicken across the continent to your plate. If you have nearby greengrocers, butcher’s shops or fishmongers, head round and ask where they source their produce. Buying locally reduces the air miles of your groceries, lowering your carbon footprint and easing the demand on supermarkets to ship in vast quantities of meat every year. It's also a great way to support your local farmers!
Compost Food Waste
Gather up the potato peels, onion skins and carrot ends, and throw them into the compost bin. Your garden will appreciate it more than the landfill! Compost can take anywhere from a few months to years to become good fertiliser, so there’s no harm in starting early. Your Christmas dinner could feed your flower beds for years to come!
Use Your Leftovers
Leftovers don’t have to go into the bin - in fact, there are hundreds of timeless recipes to help you to make the most out of the roast you couldn’t eat to reduce food waste.
‘Bubble and squeak’ is a great way to make a meal out of leftover vegetables, while you can throw your chicken bones into a pot to make your own stock or bone broth. Leftover meat and veg is great for Boxing Day sandwiches, Spanish omelettes and so much more too.
Sustainable Tips to Stay Warm at Christmas
Running the boiler constantly isn’t just bad for the environment, it can also be a huge drain on your funds - especially with the recent increases of energy costs. If you ever find yourself moaning about the heating cost of hosting the family on Christmas day, rest assured - there are plenty of ways to stay warm without breaking the bank over the festive period!
Keep the Heating on a Timer
Everyone’s home is different. The quality of your insulation, the integrity of the windows and whether you have double-glazing will all affect the amount of time you’ll need to keep your heating on. If your house needs regular blasts of the radiators to stay cosy, the best solution is to put your heating on a timer - that way you can’t forget to turn it off!
Take Advantage of the Cooking Heat
When you’re cooking, the room naturally warms up around the hob and the oven. Time your day by migrating the family into the kitchen when the roast is in the oven, and close the doors to keep the warmth in. Spend the time preparing vegetables together or letting the kids try out their new art supplies at the table - you might not need to run the heating at all!
Give Warm Clothes as Gifts
We know nobody wants to get socks for Christmas, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a cosy gift fun. Hot water bottles with colourful covers, fluffy sock slippers lined with fur, cosy blankets and fun pyjamas are all great stocking ideas to make Christmas day as toasty as it can be.
Enjoy a Sustainable Christmas
Whether you’re saving time, energy, or food, we hope these tips help to make Christmas day as memorable as ever and given you some ideas on how to reduce your environmental impact over the festive season.
If you’re drowning in old toys and Christmas paper, however, why not help the environment by getting your rubbish removed sustainably?