How to reduce waste over the Christmas Holidays

The festive season can often be, unfortunately, synonymous with overconsumption and excessive waste; the modern era of gift-giving is far from the single tangerines or lump of coal in the “Good Old Days”. To help you live out that eco-conscious Christmas, without breaking the bank, here are a few easy strategies.

Wrapping paper is the bane of an eco-friendly Christmas. Recycling advisors suggest that the amount of wrapping paper thrown away across the UK at Christmas could reach the moon! However, there is some good news in that there are numerous greener options available to help us reduce our impact. 

First up, make sure you use (and re-use) what you’ve already bought, even if it’s not recyclable. Secondly, make use of alternative materials already at your disposal, such as newspapers, magazines, or spare fabrics like old scarves. If you do want to buy new, then shops like Etsy sell fabrics that you can re-use for years to come. 

Opening gifts with care can allow you to re-use paper next year, although this might not work for anyone who enjoys ripping the paper (so it may be better to go with newspaper for their presents). If you must buy paper new, choose recyclable paper, which means nothing shiny or glittery. Online brands such as Re-wrapped offer biodegradable, compostable paper made with vegetable inks, but at £15+ for 9 sheets of gift wrap, it’s unaffordable for those on a student budget. The cheaper (and more eco-friendly) option is to therefore simply re-use what you already have. 

Ditching Sellotape will also save money and make it easier to re-use or recycle paper afterward. Ribbons and strings can be collected from other parcels and packages, and tying without double-knotting means they can be easily removed and re-used. Stick-on gift labels, though convenient, also make re-using paper more difficult. Cutting up old Christmas cards can create festive, eco-friendly labels.

Once you’ve got the hang of the wrapping, it might be time to re-evaluate what’s inside. Mass-produced plastic doesn’t have to be beneath every tree. Something handmade is always well-received, especially by parents and grandparents. When it comes to a Secret Santa, gifting an ‘experience’ rather than something material is a great option: perhaps paintballing, a horse-riding lesson, or tickets to the cinema – let them know you’ve recognised their hobbies. Gifts of toys, books, or clothes can be switched out for their second-hand counterparts, which are much cheaper for you and much better for the environment. 

Christmas cards are a little trickier. The most eco-friendly option is to use e-cards, although these services sometimes have costly subscriptions. Specialist environmental card brands (such as ecoLiving and 1 Tree Cards) offer eco-friendly alternatives. Both brands plant one tree for every card sold and come with flower seeds that can be sowed. But at £13-15 per pack of 10 cards, they too are certainly at the higher end of a holiday budget. 

Looking for cards that can be recycled (i.e. having no glitter or adornments such as ribbons) is the easiest and cheapest choice in being more environmentally aware during the holiday period. Upcycling the cards you receive into decorations, gift tags, or homemade cards for the next Christmas is the easiest way to prevent waste and reduce your impact the following year.

Reduce the amount you’re buying from new, re-use what you’ve already got or received, recycle everything else, and you’ll be getting ready to celebrate a green Christmas all season long.

Christmas dinner is often the most excessive meal of the year. Recipes for how best to use leftovers help prevent food waste, but other waste can accumulate. For example, disposable Christmas napkins could be switched out for cloth napkins, and a re-usable tablecloth picked over a throwaway one. Christmas crackers also contain the most wasteful of all the gifts you receive, so choosing recyclable options that cut down on plastic are a much more eco-friendly option.

The best thing to do this Christmas is question if you’ll use it next Christmas. If it’s single-use and can’t be upcycled, it’s probably not the best choice. If it’s mass-produced, like those little glittery baubles they sell in Primark and Sainsbury’s, check out your local charity shops for last years’ first. Reduce the amount you’re buying from new, re-use what you’ve already got or received, recycle everything else, and you’ll be getting ready to celebrate a green Christmas all season long.