Having just read an Instagram post from Rosie of elouise MAKES about how she packages her beautiful ethical, animal based jewellery (made from recycled silver and gold) in fully recyclable parcel paper. She is on a mission to make this Christmas more sustainable.
Delving deeper I came across some staggering statistics, especially concerning how much wrapping paper that CAN’T be recycled is thrown away.
Christmas doesn’t have to come at the cost of the planet. That’s what being more ‘sustainable’ means, having less effect on our planets resources. So this little blog is about all a few things you CAN easily do to make your Christmas ‘footprint’ less and make it a more sustainable Christmas, with a focus on paper.
Wrapping Paper
Do you know how much wrapping paper we throw away at Christmas in the UK? 227,000 miles worth according to the waste management company BIFFA! That’s apparently enough to wrap around the earth 8 times! What’s worse is that if it has glitter, foil or is that shiny type it isn’t even recyclable. Greenpeace identified that the process to make 1kg of wrapping paper produces more than 3kgs of CO2 emissions. There are some good reasons to rethink our wrapping this Christmas. Here are some alternatives:
Here’s mine!
Use something re-usable, like a gift bag, a tin or a re-usable box, Christmas Tea towel or a scarf.
If you are filling a stocking, what about going without the paper for a change? or even just wrapping 2 or 3 of the items.
Choose wrapping paper that is fully recyclable – quick tip to check, if its possible, scrunch the paper into a ball shape, if its stays its recyclable.
Use brown parcel paper and buy coloured raffia for your bows. Raffia is biodegradable and compostable.
There is also plenty of ‘eco’ and biodegradable packaging tape available now. Steer clear of the plastic sellotape and you can be complete guilt free when it comes to your Christmas gift wrapping.
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Christmas Cards
Now I do love Christmas cards – but this year I am going to go digital I have decided. Why? Well let’s look a a few hard facts and then go on to the fun stuff of the alternatives.
One tree makes 3,000 Christmas Cards.
A typical UK resident throws away 24 Christmas cards after the event
Do the maths and that means 1 tree is only enough for 176 people’s cards.
According to the GWP group, who have some fantastic stats by the way – just have a look at how much foil is thrown away just from purchased mince pies!! – Royal Mail estimates it delivers 150 million cards during a Christmas period. That is a LOT OF TREES.
Oh and the above stats don’t include the boxes that the cards come in!!
So what can you do to be more sustainable from a card perspective?
Top of my list that could cross off both Card and ‘present’ at the same time, send a Digital Gift Card from the South Georgia Heritage Trust. How does that work? You can decide how much you want to donate for the card and ‘postage’ for this eCard. The person receiving it has their card and their gift is a donation to the work of this small but very effective charity preserving the wildlife in South Georgia Island, in the Antarctic region.
There are just TONS of e-cards that would make a difference, you could choose what’s closest to your heart. Pardon the pun, but from the British Heart Foundation to one I really like DontSendMeACard.com where you have a really wide choice of the charities and are bound to find one you like! From the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to Action for Children, it’s a win win situation to move from physical cards to eCards.
Make a donation instead. Tell everyone you are not going to send a card but you are going to donate something instead and find perhaps something small and local that really needs that £10 or £20.
Buy Plantable Cards. Each card has seeds embedded in the paper – you can plant them and grow, flowers, or herbs. Here are a couple of places to buy these from to get you started:
If you want to go part way on this and are not ready to give up on Christmas Cards, make your own cards from recycled paper, fabric scraps or natural materials like leaves and twigs. Or upcycle your old cards, wrapping paper and other materials to create new ones.
Here’s a couple I made last year with pressed leaves from our garden
To conclude, these are just a couple of ideas of what you can do to incorporate some small changes and enjoy a more sustainable Christmas that leaves a positive impact on the environment.
