Published: Friday 20 December 2019
By using up those leftovers, recycling your Christmas tree and making your own decorations, you can limit the impact our celebrations have on the environment.
Here’s our top 7 tips for a less wasteful holiday.
- Send Cyber wishes
Cut down on paper and card by sending e-Holiday cards or make your own Season Greetings GIF to send to your friends and family. - Shop sustainably
Gifts are great, but often mean more waste. Challenge your family to buy second hand gifts from local charity shops; make your own gifts by baking cookies, knitting scarves or making your own jam; or give memories by arranging a day out with your loved one together. - Make your own decorations
Avoid investing in new plastics and foils by making your own Christmas decorations from recyclable materials at home. Use old jam jars as candle holders or snow globes or make a wreath from bottle corks. - Be a responsible wrapper
Try wrapping your presents in recycled newspaper. Picking a story that you think would make your loved one laugh adds a whole new layer of fun to gift giving. You could also try wrapping gifts in festive material or scarves that can be reused year on year. - Make a list, check it twice
Supermarket shopping is busy enough without being sucked into special offers that distract from your list and could mean more food in the bin. Make a list and stick to it. - Compost your Christmas tree
Last year Kensington and Chelsea residents recycled 71.46 tonnes of real trees for composting. We will compost your tree for free. Just drop it at a designated location around the borough from Thursday 2 January to Sunday 19 January 2020. - Wash and squash your recycling
From the present unwrapping to the custard pouring, much of the things you use on Christmas day (or other holidays) can be recycled. Remember to rinse out food and drink before you recycle, squash plastics and put plastic lids back on bottles and cartons. Mostly, your recycling will be reused and turned back into the original material, meaning less need to mine natural resources to create raw materials, less pollution and less greenhouse gas emissions.