Our carbon footprint in the Christmas period is 6% higher than the rest of this year. By following our tips, you can help reduce this! Most of these ideas are easy to implement, will save you money and can be incorporated during the year as well: spending more time in nature, buying second-hand, and meal planning.
1. Eco Friendly Gifts
If you are buying gifts this year, look out for eco-friendly ideas. A homemade gift is much more thoughtful, and better for the planet. Why not get crafty, cook a hearty meal, bake some biscuits, or donate your time to help a friend redecorate? There are plenty of more sustainable options than just buying as hunk of plastic. You can also consider gifting second-hand or non-material gifts, such as trips or an activity day.
2. Travel
Help make this Christmas greener! Leave your car and walk, share lifts, use buses and trams (special services run on Christmas Day!) or make use of your bike and start your New Year’s resolution early. Rather than increasing traffic with lots of vans delivering online orders, take a trip to your highstreet and support your local economy. Getting the bus instead of the car will reduce your emissions and save you money in the long-term.
3. Cut Down Your Food Waste
Planning your meals to avoid over-buying and over-cooking this Christmas could save you money, reduce the amount of food you have going to waste, as well as reduce the stress that usually comes with preparing big meals. Don't just bin your leftovers, add them to other meals or freeze for another time. You could also give to your local food bank or charities.
4. DIY Decorations / Wrapping Paper
Get creative! Make your own decorations from objects or paper around the house (making use of magazines, newspaper etc). This can be a fun activity with family and friends, and it is free. Keep any christmas cards you get and re-use them next year to make present labels. The amount of wrapping paper used for gifts is enough to wrap around the equator 9 times! Make sure you recycle it properly by doing the “scrunch test” (if it stays scrunched it can be recycled; if it doesn't it can't), separating it from tape, and trying to avoid foiled paper.
5. Minimise Your Christmas Card Footprint
Send e-cards, which will save you buying, shipping and recycling, making them way more eco-friendly! If you do prefer physical cards, get some made from recycled materials. A massive 1.5 billion christmas cards are thrown away by UK homes when they could be recycled. 300,000 tonnes of card packaging is used at Christmas; enough to cover Big Ben almost 260,000 times.
6. Christmas Trees
Try renting a tree, or reuse the one you already own. 250 tonnes of Christmas trees are thrown away after Christmas, when they could be used for compost. If you decide to buy a Christmas tree, make sure you check that it has been grown sustainably - look out for the FSC-certification logo. If you have an artificial Christmas tree, make sure you look after it and keep it for as long as possible! When it comes to replacing it, look for more eco friendly options. More and more garden centres offer tree rental options as well.
7. Be Mindful of Light Decorations and Energy Waste
Use LED bulbs and turn the lights off when you are not home. LEDs can save up to 90% of lighting energy costs: using a standard 100W light bulb for 4 hours a day costs you £14.60/year but a low energy light bulb costs only £2.63/year and saves 52kg CO2 per bulb. Turning your heating down 1°C can save you £42 each year - that's 184kg CO2.
8. Volunteer and Donate
Donate to charities or volunteer. Think about donating warm clothes, supporting a local charity or gifting your time volunteering to help those in need.