Christmas is a time of presents, food, decorations and travel, but if we’re not careful, we end up with a lot of wasted food, plastic and energy.
The good news is that there are tonnes of ways to reduce your waste this Christmas, from buying local ingredients for Christmas lunch, to wrapping your presents in newspaper.
Some of our favourites are:
- Using a ‘real’ (aka. Was once alive) Christmas tree. They are pretty and smell nice and can be put in the green bin after Christmas. Even better, you could grow a one in a pot and use it year after year. Have a look here.
- Recycle, reuse or refuse wrapping paper. Recycling wrapping paper is a great way to cut down waste, or not using any at all, but if can’t go without the joy of ripping open a present, then why not use newspaper?
- Buy your ingredients from local, sustainable and organic sources. This will help reduce the food-miles of your lunch.
- Plan your meals to avoid left-overs. Let’s be honest, left-overs are great, but plenty ends up in the bin. By planning your Christmas meals you could save food from becoming waste, and any that does meet that fate could be composted rather than binned.
- Be smart when you’re buying presents. Try to not buy gifts that are heavily packaged in plastic. Buy pre-loved pressies, ‘experiences’ (think massage vouchers, movie tickets or hot air balloon rides) and edibles.
- Reuse decorations, or buy wooden or fabric ones. You could even try your hand at making your own decorations. There’s even an eco-decorations workshop on 5 Dec, for crafty souls.
If you’re interested in finding out more, why not attend a free workshop on reducing Christmas waste, or read one of these articles all about festive sustainability:
- Carbon Neutral Charitable Fund’s ‘Top Tips for a Sustainable Christmas’
- ABC’s ‘How to Celebrate a Sustainable Christmas’
- City of Adelaide’s ‘A Sustainable Season’
