Gift wrapping

In the UK, we use 227,000km of wrapping paper each Christmas, this is enough to circle the earth 5.6 times! Most of this wrapping paper is not recyclable as it is made of plastic, foil or glitter.

Here are some tips to be more sustainable:

  • Use string rather than sticky tape to wrap gifts
  • Gift bags can be re-used time and time again
  • Reduce, reuse, recycle! Reuse old magazines, comics, newspaper or fabric to wrap gifts to add some personal flair.
  • Remove sticky tape before recycling wrapping paper so that Merseyside Recycling will be able to process it (What Can Be Recycled? - Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority)

Food

About five million puddings, two million turkeys, and 74 million mince pies go to waste each Christmas. Help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect our natural resources by thinking carefully about how much food you buy this festive season.

  • Choose seasonal and local grown vegetables 
  • Choose free range meats, where affordable
  • Select a cut of meat suitable for the size of your family 
  • Consider going vegetarian or vegan, there are many suitable options that are just as tasty as the traditional turkey
  • Use the correct bin for the waste, food waste can recycled into bio-gas and fertiliser
  • Select a cut of meat suitable for the size of your family. 

Christmas tree

If you’re looking for a sustainable Christmas tree that’s been grown using fewer pesticides, your best bet is a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) certified, or a Grown In Britain tree. According to the Carbon Trust, a two-metre artificial tree has a carbon footprint of around 40kg, more than ten times that of a real tree that’s burned after Christmas.

  • Check to see if your local council recycle it, if you can pop it in your garden waste recycling bin. Alternatively if you, or someone you know has a wood burner (and the storage space) the branches give off a lovely smell and crackle and pop if you put them in with your other logs. Some garden centres offer a “return and recycle” where you can exchange your tree for a money off voucher or a small refund
  • Fly tipping of Christmas trees is an offence and you can even be prosecuted and issued with a fine in excess of £400 and additional fees for removal and disposal
  • It would cost the UK taxpayer £22million to dispose of inappropriately discarded Christmas trees. Use your local council tip for the disposal and the material will then be recycled into compost or fuel to produce energy and reduces the carbon impact by up to 80%
  • Sponsor a tree at the NHS Forest this winter as a gift and receive a Christmas card to print and send to a loved one Sponsor a tree.

Energy

In the UK, we spend around £1 million on Christmas day just powering our TVs. In fact, we watch so much TV on Christmas day, the energy used could power 43,000 TVs for one year!

  • When cooking your Christmas dinner, turn your heating down or off, plenty of heat will already be circulated around the house!
  • Switch off appliances when you're not using them, or visiting friends and family. Having items on standby still uses electricity. This will help save energy, money and reduce your household carbon emissions.
  • Set your Christmas lights on a timer to avoid unnecessary waste and keep costs down. Alternatively, turning your festive lights off one hour earlier each day over the Christmas period is enough to reduce their energy consumption by 20%
  • Replace dated Christmas lights with modern LED Christmas lights. LED Christmas lights use 90% less energy than their traditional incandescent predecessor. They're also significantly safer, more durable and don't require the annoying bulb push/twist to find the broken bulb.