How to have a more eco-friendly Christmas

There are plenty of little things you can do this festive season to have a positive impact and make the season less wasteful. By Prudence Wade

Christmas is a time of excess, and it’s nice to be a bit naughty once a year. However, there’s a dark side to the festive season as well: the sheer amount of waste it creates. From the mountains of presents, to leftover food chucked in the bin, not to mention the mammoth amounts of throwaway plastic from wrapping paper and crackers, it’s easy to overlook the impact Christmas has on the environment.

“I think we are encouraged to make each Christmas bigger and better than the one before,” says Eilidh Gallagher, eco blogger and author of Green Christmas. “We all feel the need to keep up thanks to social media, and see so many images of the pictureperfect Christmas that we feel pressure to recreate. It’s hard to take a step back and think about what we really want from Christmas.”

Here are some easy changes you can make this year, to make the festive season a little bit kinder to the environment…

Make or upcycle gifts

Gallagher’s top piece of advice is to “have a think about what presents you can make this year with foraged ingredients, or ones you already have in your kitchen”. Chances are, this will make for even more personal and touching gifts for your loved ones.

If you really don’t trust yourself to make any presents, Gallagher suggests you “look into sourcing pre-loved gifts, rather than buying new, and try to shop local”. Of course, if you do go out shopping, remember to take reusable bags with you.

For minimal waste, you could even consider gifting your loved ones an experience rather than a physical thing.

Think about your decorations

Many of us fall into the trap of buying new tinsel and baubles every year – and this adds up to a lot of plastic waste, particularly if you throw it all away come January 1.

Gallagher recommends reusing your decorations. She also says: “Bring the outdoors in with freshly cut greenery, like holly or mistletoe.” You could even throw a Christmas party and invite your friends round to create your own wreaths. All you need is an old metal hanger to repurpose as a circle, and you can get creative with leaves, berries and anything else you can think of.

Rethink wrapping paper and gift cards

A remarkable amount of wrapping paper can’t be recycled. If it has glitter in it, is laminated, or can’t be scrunched into a ball, it’s not recyclable.

This year, make sure your paper is fully eco-friendly, and instead of throwing it out, you can easily save it to be used again.

As lovely as cards are, this is an awful lot of waste for something pretty much immediately thrown away. This year, why not swap a physical card for a digital one?