Christmas is typically a time of year we like to spoil our loved ones, feast on extravagant lunches, dinners & we may be compelled to dress up our house up from head to (mistle) toe. It is almost impossible not to get swept up in Christmas fever so I've put together a simple list of ideas to reduce our impact on the environment, while still having a jolly good time.
Start a worm farm! If you have over catered Christmas lunch you are not alone! However, allowing your food scraps to compost instead of sending them to landfill will drastically reduce your climate change footprint. Sadly 7.3 million tonnes of food waster ends up in Australian Landfill each year & this converts to 15.3 million tonnes of CO2e being released into our environment. Setting up a worm farm is easy, educational, fun & will bring you a bucket load of personal satisfaction! Worm farms also make awesome Christmas pressies (just ask my mum, I gifted her one last year and now she has a thriving community of hungry worms ready to devour her food waste). I highly recommend checking out The Compost Revolution page here >>>>> you might even find your are eligible for a council rebate! Happy Farming!
Creative wrapping! Grab newspaper, brown paper bags or boxes you already have & jazz them up with ribbon, twine or dried flowers. I always hang on to gift bags, wrapping paper & ribbon to reuse on future gifts (I have a healthy stash). Your gifts will not only be unique & have a personal touch, but they will be good for the planet!
Gift green! Commit to choosing ethically made, sustainably produced gifts for your loved ones. Shop small, organic & local where possible. Visit locally owned businesses and choose from their handmade craft wares & locally grown produce as more often than not these products are produced slowly, use locally grown ingredients & materials, plus profits will end up back in your community. Shopping from a small business at Christmas will also guarantee a huge smile on someone’s face who is passionately following their dreams. Keeping up & competing with big biz & department stores at Christmas isn’t an easy gig. Small business owners are pouring their heart and soul into the goods & services they provide. Shopping from a small genuine business will usually come with a personal touch & exceptional customer service!
Eat green! Set yourself a challenge to design a plant based Christmas menu or aim for 80% of the menu to be vegetarian. Serving up fresh fruit and veg also means avoiding heavily packaged foods.
DIY Chrissy Gifting! Consider making your own gifts or gifting your time in IOU vouchers. Why not offer your gardening, babysitting or cleaning skills to family & friends. Work colleagues will be delighted by homemade baked goods, jams, hand poured candles in recycled jars or a personal favourite of mine is propagating succulents & cacti for friends. If you aren’t overly artsy & crafty you can also consider gifting event tickets or activities rather than gifting physical goods.
An oldie but a goodie…Recycle. Have some recycling bins or tubs easily accessible during your celebrations for gift wrapping and packaging, bottles, cans & other containers that can be recycled. No slacking off because it's Christmas.
Donate to charity! Have you been gifted something you don't really want or need?? Drop off unwanted gifts to op shops rather than tossing them out & why not gift a donation to a charity on behalf of your loved one who already has everything they need.
This is really just the beginning! There are so many simple & creative ways to work towards a more sustainable Christmas & every small effort makes a difference. I would absolutely love for you to join me in sharing a kinder, cleaner & greener Christmas this year!