How to have a sustainable Christmas

Hello everyone!

Today, I will tell you how to have a more sustainable Christmas and Holiday season. Though the Holidays are a time for family, cheer, love, and sharing, they can also gather a fair share of waste. So, this festive season, let’s all aim to celebrate in a way that stomps a little less on the planet! During this season, you may wonder how to be more eco-friendly and still be able to enjoy your favourite traditions. But do not worry! You can make plenty of wonderful sustainable Christmas memories and have a lower environmental impact.

From DIY wrapping paper to LED Christmas lights, I’ve gathered some of my favourite eco-friendly holiday tips. Hopefully, you will stress less about your Christmas carbon footprint and focus on the more important things!

Gifts

Making a gift by yourself is better than buying one. Putting in your heart and effort means a lot. Try making a DIY sugar scrub, a Christmas card, knitting something, etc. Handmade items make the best gifts. Or you can provide an experience, look for second-hand books or bake something instead of buying a box of chocolates! 

Wrapping

Wrapping paper is often dyed, laminated and/or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes, glitter, plastics and so on, which cannot be recycled. Use brown paper or old newspaper instead of wrapping paper. Even though it creates a carbon footprint (cutting trees), it can be recycled and is biodegradable. Reusable gift bags and gift boxes are also good options. In Japan, they use a cloth (furoshiki) to wrap gifts. We should take an example for them and learn to do furoshiki.

Buy local 

Support small businesses in any way you can! We all know that small businesses were the most affected by the pandemic.

Go thrifting

By thrifting, you are helping reduce clothes and items going into landfills and reducing the carbon footprint. 

Bows and ribbons

Just like metallic and glittery wrapping paper can’t be recycled, so can’t bows and ribbons! But if you’d still like to top your gift up with a bow, try making your own out of old materials or buy reusable options!

Christmas Tree

Here in Malta, a real tree for Christmas isn’t a viable option, but if you’re on the hunt for a new fake tree, look for a sustainable option that will last at least a decade or try decorating a house plant instead. And don’t forget to look for eco-friendly decorations too!

Decoration

There are so many objects that you can upcycle. We all know Pinterest has a lot of upcycling and repurposing Christmas project ideas. I'm sure you'll find some you love.

Lights

Christmas is the perfect time to light up your home, so it feels more cosy and charming. To make your Holidays more environmentally friendly, consider using LED bulbs and fairy lights. An LED bulb consumes 10 times less electricity than an incandescent bulb and six to eight times less than halogen bulbs. The best thing about them is, they last longer too!

Food

It’s no secret that a lot of food is wasted and thrown away during the festivities. Store your leftovers safely and find recipes online to avoid food wastage. Compost your food scraps instead of simply throwing them out.
 
Cards

Opt for e-cards this year. As there is no paper thrown away, there is no need to worry about recycling or causing damage to the environment in any way.

I hope you are all having a wonderful time.

Talk to you soon!