‘CHRISTMAS, OLD STYLE’

Eco-investigator and New Jersey native, Alissa MacMillan, seeks to find answers to your everyday questions about tough decisions we all face, when acting in the best interests for the environment. A freelance writer and philosophy lecturer, Alissa is a former features reporter for the New York Daily News and has been living in County Limerick for nearly eight years. Your queries on all matters environmental, are welcome. This week, she focuses on Q: With the holidays approaching, I’m dreading the waste that comes with it, like the new toys my child plays with for a few minutes and then leaves aside or the heaps of discarded wrapping paper. How can I be mindful of the environment without being a Scrooge?

A: One of the best tips for being more eco-aware during the holidays is to take on an old-fashioned way of thinking, a mind-set about waste that our grandparents once had. It’s been given a new title – “the circular economy” – but it’s “a different name for something we know already,” explains Dr. Paul Bolger, manager of the Environmental Research Institute at UCC.

“There was almost no waste in the household 100 years ago,” Bolger says, we simply kept in use much of what we had, like glass milk bottles or egg cartons. The circular economy can be thought of as just that, a circle, where products are made and used, then come back around to be reused. In this picture, when no-longer-useable waste and recycling are created, it falls out of the circle and “is an admission of failure,” Bolger says.

Focussed primarily on what businesses do, the circular economy is “about how we design and make products and food in a way that it can be reused and refurbished or have a long life-cycle,” explains Bolger. The ideal is no more “built in obsolescence”: your computer or phone isn’t made to break so you’ll have to buy a new one, products will be durable, long-lasting, high quality and repairable, even leasable. There are companies in Cork already doing this, Bolger notes, including Wisetek, which remanufactures computer servers; Ecocel, which makes insulation from old newspapers, and Down2Earth Materials, producing compostable goods, all well ahead of the trend and integrating a way of thinking we’ll hear more about in the next twenty years.

As for the Christmas shopper, we needn’t get bah-humbug-y. “Let’s keep giving each other presents,” Bolger insists, as they can be a welcome recognition of family and friendship and “make a difficult time of the year better.” But we can take some helpful insights from this old-new way of thinking (itself a reused idea!), being mindful of what we give, and what we put the gift in.

Thoughts of a circular economy might draw us away from giving “stuff,” says Bolger, and toward giving experiences. A few of his ideas include an hour-long massage, a music lesson, a voucher for the hair dresser, or a kayak lesson – even events that can be experienced together, like concert tickets or a museum membership. Services also tend to be nearby, giving a “real return to the local economy,” Bolger notes, as does the very welcome gift of food, like locally made jams, which, if eaten, has little impact on the environment.

If you have to buy stuff, Bolger advises we think about how long it will last, whether it can be passed on, and whether it will need batteries, which “use a lot of critical raw materials which are very scarce.” If you can find wood-based options, they are far better than plastic, Bolger adds. As for what we put the gifts in: glossy wrapping paper is not recyclable, so keep an eye out for paper that is recyclable, or reuse gift bags from holidays past.

“For the last five decades we’ve been told new is good,” Bolger says, “and the industry has created a demand for new things.” But that’s not always how it’s been, nor how it needs to be.

“The Irish are very flexible and we can change,” he adds, “as long as we can see the sense of it” – like a gift that connects us to loved ones, supports the local economy, and doesn’t create waste. Joyeux Noel!.

Direct your eco related queries for Alissa to info@avondhupress.ie (with ‘Alissa’s Eco-advice’ in the subject line)