How to Cut Your Christmas Waste
The holiday season is time for celebration, but these days it is often also a time of excess, with more and more food, presents, and decorations being bought every year. It is estimated that each person throws away an extra 50kg of waste at Christmas time, so we’ve come up with some tips on how you can reduce this waste…
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Cards and wrapping paper
After the festive season is over, be sure to recycle your cards and wrapping paper. Try to avoid foil wrapping paper as this is much harder to recycle, and look out for cards and wrap made from recycled paper or FSC certified materials.
Alternatively, package your presents in decorative, re-usable boxes, bags, or fabric wraps, like these ones from Lush.
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Electricals
At this time of year, people often receive gifts of new models of items they already own, such as cameras, televisions, hairdryers, MP3 players, mobile phones, and other electrical goods. Recycle the replaced goods by selling them, donating them to charity, or taking them to your local recycling centre.
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Fairy lights
Using LED lights to decorate your home will not only reduce your energy use by up to 90% compared to traditional lights, but also save you money on your utility bills. Remember to turn the lights off before going to bed to avoid wasting energy.
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Ribbons and bows 
Ribbons and bows are often in perfect condition after a gift has been unwrapped. Stop them from ending up in landfill by saving them to reuse next year.
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Food
There will inevitably be lots of leftover food after you’ve enjoyed your Christmas dinner. Check out these recipes for tasty and imaginative ways to make the most of your leftovers, and reduce your food waste. Moroccan turkey salad or Christmas pudding trifle, anyone?
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Decorations
Christmas decorations can be very expensive, so why not see what you can make from what you already have? Check out this page for suggestions, or if you want more ideas, a quick search on Pinterest produces thousands of results for DIY decorations!
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For more tips on how to cut your Christmas waste, check out last year’s blog post, and our green gift guide.
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It is my practice to keep ribbons. You just don't know how many ribbons you will be able to collect when Christmas season comes.
They sure do come in handy!
Save the Christmas cards you receive (the ones that don't have too much writing inside...) and cut them up to make gift labels the following year. Labels are quite expensive, and you'll never have enough...
Very resourceful - thanks for the tip!