HOPING for a white Christmas?
These days it’s about having a GREEN one instead.
10
Many of us have already started to buy festive cards, wrappings and decorations.
But every year we produce sack-loads of waste – binning around 1.5billion cards and 277,000 miles of wrapping paper – which all goes to the tip or ends up polluting oceans.
Three quarters of us are more concerned about our impact on the environment than we were in 2014, according to a recent Sun survey.
However, by making little changes you can have a more environmentally-friendly festive season and save money too.
Here, The Sun’s green expert Angela Terry, founder of onehome.org.uk, explains how to enjoy a very merry eco-Christmas.
Trees
CUTTING down a tree to use as a decoration for a couple of weeks a year doesn’t sound very green. But it depends how you get rid of it after use.
If it’s recycled through your local council’s scheme it should end up as mulch.
10
That means a two-metre tree has a low carbon footprint of just 3.5kg of CO2, compared to it decomposing in a waste dump, which produces more than four times as much carbon dioxide.
Also, a tree bought from the Forestry Commission will be British with a shorter transport line, and from sustainable forests.
These options are better than buying a plastic tree that can’t be recycled and has been shipped from China.
Crackers
IF you must have crackers, avoid those with plastic toys.
John Lewis and Waitrose recently announced plans to stop filling their crackers with plastic toys, and from next year will use trinkets made from recyclables.
10
Make your own if you have time. Use empty loo rolls and find instructions on the Hobbycraft website. You can even buy cracker snaps for pennies.
Fill them with personal gifts or, better still, get your kids to make them. You can almost certainly write funnier jokes, too!
And if doing a Secret Santa, don’t buy plastic gifts that are looked at once at the Christmas party then chucked away.
Make it a condition that the gifts come from charity shops so they are cheap – and you have to put a bit of effort into picking them.
Cards and calendars
WOULD anyone notice if you didn’t send them a card? Probably not.
At least 1.5billion cards are thrown away each year in Britain alone. If e-cards feel a bit smug, why not phone your friends and family instead?
10
But if you don’t want to stop sending cards, go for ones that are sustainably sourced or made from recycled material, and avoid glitter so they can be recycled afterwards.
Making your own will cut down on packaging.
And with advent calendars for kids, invest in one you can use again next year and not bin, such as one with drawers for chocolates.
Single-use advent calendars cost about £2 a year, so multi-use ones work out a lot cheaper in the long run.
Decorations
GO natural, Blue Peter-style. Make your own wreath with an old coat hanger, some ivy, holly and pine cones.
Buy decorations that will last and gift them to family members so they can put them out every year.
10
Paper pom-poms and honeycombs look stunning hung from the ceiling and are also cheap, reusable and recyclable. Avoid tinsel and plastic that can’t be recycled.
If your festive lights are more than ten years old it will be more efficient to replace them with newer LED ones.
They can save up to 90 per cent on power costs and last longer than traditional bulbs.
Loads of light sets are chucked away because a single bulb has gone. Invest the time to find and replace a broken bulb.
Dinner and booze
YOUR turkey and veg should come from the UK. Avoid anything that’s been shipped for miles.
When you do your big shop choose veg that comes loose or is light on packaging.
10
Check out leftover recipe websites and see what you can freeze. Afterwards, compost unwanted food rather than binning it.
With booze, recycle your empties and think about how many miles your wine has travelled.
Choose English or European wines rather than South American or Australian bottles. Screw tops are not recyclable in many areas.
When Carlsberg switched its six-pack beer bindings to glue rather than traditional plastic rings, it is estimated it cut plastic waste by more than 1,200 metric tons a year.
For him and her
FOR the man in your life, disposable razors are rarely recycled so an old-fashioned razor makes a beautiful green gift and is a money-saver over time.
And for that special woman, soap bars are making a comeback and are much better for the planet than plastic bottles of shower gel.
10
10
They also last longer. You can buy bar shampoo or a large economy bottle of her favourite shampoo.
It will last longer and save money.
For mates, why not gift them imaginative vouchers rather than festive tat, like one promising a night of free babysitting?
Chocolate and sweets
SWEETS that are wrapped singly require loads of foil and plastic that is not usually recycled so they’re not great for the environment.
Festive favourites such as Ferrero Rocher and Celebrations are not only individually wrapped but come in plastic containers.
10
Cardboard boxes of Maltesers are far better.
You can also avoid the packaging on mince pies by making your own.
For kids
BUY the kids a SodaStream. It might be plastic but it can be used again and again to make fizzy drinks.
The product replaces plastic bottles and children love using it. You can also make mixers for booze that are more eco-friendly. Prices start from £90.
10
Kids love receiving home-made hampers. A decorated shoe box that includes chocolates, sweets and a wooden puzzle and craft kit will keep them just as busy as a plastic doll.
Ask your friends’ older kids if they want to sell any toys they have grown out of which are still in good condition to give to your youngsters.
This saves you money, earns them money and stops you filling the world with more plastic.
