It's the most wonderful time of the year! 

The festive season is all about cheer and good times, but is there an environmental impact to these celebrations?

We are often so caught up in the merriment that we tend to forget that the way in which we celebrate has an impact on our environment. For instance, Britons discard more than 108 million rolls of wrapping paper during the festive season. In the US, people typically throw away a staggering 38,000 miles of ribbon and $11 billion in packaging material.

There is also a lot of deliciousness that gets wasted! Many claim that over ⅔ of the turkey ends up in the bin, 17.2 million Brussels sprouts are not eaten in the UK.

So what can we do to make our holiday festivities more sustainable? There are many incredibly easy things that we can do to have a greener Christmas:

• How about saving the wrapping paper from this year's gifts and using them again next year?
• Steer clear of shiny wrapping paper since this cannot be recycled.
• Go for e-cards or telephone calls instead of traditional greeting cards.
• Repurpose Christmas cards you receive into next year's gift tags.
• Use your artificial Christmas for as many years as possible to reduce the number of trees that end up in our landfills.
• Be mindful about the amount of food that you purchase and prepare...is it really necessary to have four side dishes and 3 desserts? 
• Be creative with your leftovers...how about layering roast beef slices with caramelised onions and cheese in a crusty ciabatta?
• Incorporate leftover vegetables in omelettes or quiches.
• Donate unopened dry and canned items to great initiatives like the Foodbank Lifeline Foundation.

Check out our video for more things that we can do to enjoy a more sustainable holiday season.

 

Wishing all our readers a very merry and bright Christmas!

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