Give the gift to the planet this Christmas and make your celebration respectful of the environment

Christmas – it’s the season for gifts and parties, and the inevitable leftovers the next day. Unfortunately, while edible leftovers usually end up in sandwiches, inedible leftovers—discarded packaging, broken decorations, and the like—often end up in our landfill.

According to The Sustainability Trust, New Zealanders send an additional 50,000 tonnes of waste to landfill in the week after Christmas. That’s enough to fill 14,286 20-foot shipping containers. If we were to stack those containers, they would be three times the height of Mount Everest. In other words, we produce a lot of waste during the festive season.

The good news is that there are many things we can do to help reduce the amount of trash we send to landfill, without having to cancel Christmas. With just a few changes, we can all enjoy all the fun of the season, with the added gift of being eco-friendly.

Christmas decorations:

When choosing your decorations, avoid tinsel and glitter, both of which spew microplastics into our environment. Instead, use pinecones, flowers, and leaves to create natural decorations for your home, along with reusable decorations made of wood and glass that will last for generations. Use fabric scraps to make bunting, and have the kids play with paper and their crayons to make paper chains, snowflakes, and angels to decorate your tree.

Christmas trees:

Consider making a reusable tree out of old driftwood or pallets, or if you’re really smart, how about making one out of neatly and creatively stacked books? If that’s not your thing, how about one made of felt, with embellishments that you can Velcro on? If you prefer a real tree, when you buy it, check with the seller if it will be shipped in January to mulch, or find a potted one that you can reuse or plant in your garden afterward. Doing that means you don’t have to stick with a traditional type of tree either, why not trade it up for a fruit tree? She comes with her own decorations and provides pudding too!

Christmas meals:

Keep leftovers from taking over your fridge by planning ahead. Don’t panic when shopping on Christmas Eve, but have a menu and list planned out ahead of time, and think about portion sizes. Before going to the supermarket, first check your pantry and fridge, and write down what you already have that you can use.

Buying locally and seasonally whenever possible, through farmers markets, local produce purveyors, and fruit farms to choose from, all help reduce greenhouse gas emissions as the season has been shortened. distance the food has traveled to reach your table. Swap out store-bought treats for homemade ones – they come with less packaging and can be a fun thing to do with the kids at home in the days leading up to Christmas.

review the Love Food Hate Waste website for lots of great tips on how to plan your holiday menu while reducing food waste, as well as some great ideas for your leftovers. When setting the table, avoid disposable plates and cutlery, and change paper napkins for linen ones.

Gift wrapping:

When it comes to gift wrapping, consider changing it up a bit this year. If you have young children at home, provide them with paper and crayons or pencils and ask them to make their own wrapping paper to use this year. Reuse old maps as wrapping paper to give gifts an old-fashioned look, or break out the sewing machine and make some cloth gift bags to replace wrapping paper entirely.

Give presents:

Giving gifts is great fun, but it can be hard on both your wallet and the environment. However, there are many simple things we can do to reduce the cost to ourselves and our planet.

Instead of giving individual gifts, consider giving board games or outdoor sports games like swingball or miniature golf to families you know. Experiences in place of things also make great gifts, from spa days to family memberships to a local zoo, movie gift cards, or a gift voucher to a local restaurant, brewery, or even a gin tasting, chances are. that they are well received.

Homemade gifts are great too: spend a day in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies to package and hand out as seasonal gifts this year, or perhaps gift certificates for services like babysitting, car washes, and other things you can do for friends and family. . When asked about gifts for you and your tamariki, encourage people to consider thrift and thrift items rather than new, and if Secret Santa is a thing at your whānau, consider setting some rules. funny: it must be op-shop, plastic. free or recycled in some way.

Plants and trees, all ready to be transplanted and replanted, also make great gifts for all ages – setting up young children with their very own planter box of vegetables or tomatoes to grow is a gift that can make them love gardening forever. lifetime. Youngsters may also love seeing a Venus flytrap plant in action!