Christmas is traditionally a time of excess, and this is seen nowhere so clearly as in the amount of waste we generate over the festive period. It’s been estimated that the quantity of waste during the holiday is 30% higher than for a comparable period at another time.
A great many people are concerned about this. A survey last Christmas found that 69% of the people questioned considered it unacceptable. But this doesn’t have to mean pooping your party — there are ways of reducing what you throw away and still having a great Christmas.
The simplest way of ensuring we throw away less is to plan more carefully what we buy, especially when it comes to food. While we obviously don’t want to run out over Christmas, a little proactive planning can reduce panic over-buying, or grabbing something from the shelves only to find you’d already bought it.
We can also think ahead to how we’re going to dispose of what we buy, especially checking whether packaging is recyclable (and, even better, recycled). This is particularly important for wrapping paper, which often can’t be recycled, due to the presence of glitter or metallised plastic film.
The “scrunch test” can help — if paper stays scrunched, it can probably be recycled, whereas if it springs back, it probably can’t be. It may not be easy to test this in the shop, though, so it’s best to go for wrapping paper that’s marked as recyclable.
Make sure when purchasing food to avoid packaged items where possible such as fruit and veg which often don’t need to be in any packaging at all. For example, the broccoli loose as opposed to one shrink wrapped.
Not everything needs to be thrown away when the Christmas period is over. This is particularly true of leftover food — turkey can be eaten cold, for instance, or bagged and frozen to later be used to make into a variety of tasty meals such as pie or curries. While leftover vegetables can be made into dishes like bubble and squeak.
Most of us pack away our decorations at the end of the Christmas period to use the following year. If you choose to dispose of them, though, there are alternatives to putting them in the bin, despite many of them not being recyclable. Artificial Christmas trees, tinsel and baubles, for instance, would be welcome as donations to many charities.
You’re also likely to be doing plenty of shopping, both before Christmas and in the sales. You can avoid adding to the plastic bags contaminating both land and sea by remembering to take reusable bags with you every time.
A good deal of your Christmas waste, though, can be recycled. This ranges from food or real Christmas trees, which can be composted, to the right type of wrapping paper, cardboard and some plastic packaging.
Even if you have too much to fit in the bins, you can always save some for next time, or pay a trip to your nearest council recycling centre. Your local authority may also have arranged drop-off points for Christmas trees, while some shops have bins for recycling Christmas cards.
Responsible management of your Christmas waste doesn’t necessarily mean compromising on having fun over the festive season. If you want to know more about this, or other ways to take simple steps that will benefit the environment, you’re very welcome to get in touch with us.
