We’ve had a rubbish Christmas
Family fills a room with all the packaging they threw away on the day
NOW that the festivities are over, households will get down to the serious business of disposing of millions of tons of Christmas waste.
But one family were alarmed to find that their modest celebrations generated almost a roomful of rubbish.
Doug and Julia Shields, who have four sons, were left with 44 cardboard boxes, 15 glass bottles, 12 plastic containers, two cans and two bin bags full of wrapping paper by Monday night.
Mr Shields, 49, whose children are aged between four and 14, said he was astonished by the mountain of waste they accumulated.
The PR consultant, who also hosted his two sisters and a brother-in-law on Christmas Day, said: ‘ We’re staggered by the amount of rubbish, it’s quite embarrassing and it looks really indulgent.
‘We had budgets of £150 for gifts for each of our boys but it looks like we’ve spoilt them rotten – although it doesn’t feel like we’ve done that.
‘ It’s because something will come within a box, and when you open the box, there’s a box within the box.
‘All this packaging is unnecessary and it’s certainly made us realise how much rubbish you create … the bubble wrap that comes within the boxes but can’t be recycled is certainly unnecessary.
‘And sometimes the boxes are huge for what you order as well.’ Mr Shields said he will have to throw away six sheets of bubble wrap and two black plastic containers that came within a chocolate selection box.
Environmental campaigners believe each household’s waste increases by 30 per cent over the festive period.
Local authorities have been criticised for issuing widely varying advice on which types of Christmas rubbish can be recycled.
There are baffling rules on items that contain mixed materials – some parts can be recycled while
‘All this is unnecessary’
others cannot. Families throw out 300,000 tons of card packaging and 225,000 miles of wrapping paper each year.
The festive period also delivers a tide of 114,000 tons of plastic packaging that will be dumped rather than recycled, according to figures from Wildlife and Countryside Link – which brings together 40 environmental organisations.
The figure equates to about 11lb per household, although families with children will end up with four times more.
Mr Shields and his wife Julia, a 39-year-old freelance writer, spent £60 on alcohol and £275 on food to feed their family of six – including Will, 14, Ally, ten, Eric, seven and four-year- old Bear – and their three guests.
They ate roast turkey with seven kinds of vegetables including cauliflower cheese, red cabbage and dauphinoise potatoes.
Mr Shields, who lives in Yatton, near Bristol, found the food packaging generated almost as much waste as the gifts they ordered. He believes most of the packaging can be recycled but some items containing different components may not.
‘I’m pleased that most of it is recyclable but it is alarming looking at it all and realising that there is a fair chunk of it that isn’t,’ he added. ‘We’re pretty good at recycling, we’ve got a teenager we send out to do it every Monday night.
‘What’s ridiculous is the packaging within packaging. We ordered a toy dinosaur that came in a box which was inside another box.
‘But then you open that packet, and you have the plastic container that the dinosaur sits in. That to me is a complete waste.’