Christmas
Unwrapped
Going Green at Christmas
Celebrate the festive season by cutting consumption, recycling, and sourcing locally, ethically and organically.
Whatever
our religious beliefs, the period around the Christmas holidays is a
time of celebration, with plenty of eating, drinking and the giving of
gifts. We send 1.7 billion Christmas cards each year. That’s the
equivalent of 200,000 trees. We use a further 50,000 trees-worth of
wrapping paper. Altogether, it mounts up to create around 3 million
tonnes of rubbish over the festive season alone.
This
year try to think about the wider impact of your Christmas consumption
and take steps to make your Christmas greener and more ethical. This
does not mean giving up on celebrating altogether. It just means taking
more care about what you buy, where it’s going and what is going to
happen to it after it’s finished with.
Trees, Decorations and
Cards.
Six million
Christmas trees are bought each year in the UK and most are thrown out
afterwards. Instead of adding to the waste, think about whether you
truly need a tree in your house. If you really do want one, buy a tree
that has come from a sustainable source, and make sure you recycle it
afterwards via your local authority. Or buy a synthetic one that will
last you a life time (one you can bring out year after year). Some
Christmas decorations are made in sweat-shops, so try and be creative
and make your own instead. Eliminate card waste altogether and instead
send an electronic card (for those who have computers) instead or look
for cards made from recycled material.
Afterwards.
Most of the rubbish you produce around Christmas can be recycled one
way or another. In the UK we discard enough wrapping paper to cover an
area larger than Guernsey. Dont add to the mountains of waste: re-use
or recycle. Around one billion cards will be thrown away after
Christmas. Recycle yours through the Woodland Trust scheme at W H Smith
or Tesco. Put your vegetable waste into the compost, and instead of
hanging onto unwanted gifts, give them to charity.
M Purtill