ECO-FRIENDLY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
You think you’re dutybound to buy cheap plastic festive garbage? Well, Emily Edwards is here to tell you you’re not. Get the first rickshaw out of Tinseltown and into Sustainability City with this as a guide.
The festive season has been a time associated with decadence and extravagance, but this isn’t always a good thing. Our environment cannot sustain the pressure of all our waste, especially during the festive period, during which people tend to throw away about 30% more waste than they usually do.
There are many ways we can cut down on the amount of waste we accumulate over the festive season. One way is to reduce plastic waste with our Christmas decorations. We often absent-mindedly discard these items without a thought for what they are doing to our environment. Christmas crackers, for example, often contain a plastic toy gift and are also boxed partly in plastic. These are generally all thrown away after we’ve scoffed our turkey dinner. As an alternative to the traditional cracker, many shops are now offering a recyclable cracker. These are made from eco-friendly materials and generally contain the hat, the snap and a joke or even an eco-message inside! The gifts are made from wood or other recyclable materials, and if you’re envisaging these being expensive, Dunelm are doing 12 recyclable crackers for as little as £3.50.
Alternatively, you could consider making your own: a toilet roll tube wrapped in brown paper or pretty fabric, tied with ribbon and with your own eco-friendly gifts and party hats placed inside. Simple to make, and far more creative.
We can also reduce waste by using eco-friendly decorations: cutting back on plastic in favour of ones made from paper, wood or even edible options can really help. Some clever ideas include dried orange slices, paired with cinnamon and hung with twine, sure to bring a real festive aroma to the home. The pinecone reindeer, too, is a novel idea and very simple to make, using things found in the garden.
Edible ideas include sugar charms made from melted sweets, gingerbread bunting (must be eaten within two weeks!) or even a cupcake Christmas tree. Many decorations are now made from recycled or reclaimed materials, or you could buy ‘pre-loved’ (as the modern parlance has it) items. There are always plenty of Christmas Fayres going on around the city during December, with people often selling their decorations, so if you are getting bored with your baubles, don’t rush to buy new ones or throw away what you have – you could always add to your existing collection with some of your own homemade decorations. You could even buy or make a paper Christmas tree – be even more eco-friendly by making one out of an old book!
But if you couldn’t think of Christmas without a real tree, there are ways you can help the environment. You can rent a tree or even buy one which is maintained in the garden. If you dispose of your tree after Christmas, make sure this is done in an environmentally friendly way. Christmas Trees Wales, for example, are based in the Cardiff branch of Ikea, and grow their trees at Wentwood Forest, a nursery in Monmouthshire. According to their website, “Any trees left over are chipped and converted into compost.”
Christmas trees are good for the environment because they absorb carbon dioxide. Make sure you put them out for collection on your garden waste day at the end of the season – or you can put them in one of the green waste skips found at your local Household Waste Recycling Centres. If you have a plastic tree, try and reuse it or give it to a friend, family member or a good cause, all options which are much better than throwing it away, where it will merely go into landfill. The best option is a potted tree that can be reused year after year.
Remember!
Do a bit of research to find a Christmas tree grown in the UK to reduce carbon emissions. Artificial trees are okay too, as long as you keep them in good nick and reuse them for at least 10 years!
Don’t use cling film to store all your leftovers. I know that you have thirty roast potatoes you need to cram into the fridge, but you can buy (or make) reusable beeswax wraps to keep them fresh.
Do use twine or string instead of sticky tape when doing your Christmas wrapping. You can take it off and reuse it over and over again! Plus, it will make whoever is opening the present feel like they’re in A Christmas Carol. There’s no downside to this!
Don’t use plastic Christmas crackers. Were you really planning on using that tiny screwdriver set? Christmas dinner will still be amazing without them, I promise.
