Tips to reduce waste this Christmas

..there are ways to reduce waste while retaining the festive spirit of these beautiful
celebrations.
Here some tips to reduce waste covering everything from gifts, to decorations and
festive meal planning so you can celebrate while caring for our environment:

1. Try your hand at homemade gifts, like jams, chutneys, a cake, body scrub,
face oil, wooden toy, artwork…the list is endless.

2. Use paper wrapping that can be easily reused or recycled rather than foil or
cellophane or better still, get creative with wrapping using a scarf or towel as
part of the gift.

3. Avoid products with lots of packaging and consider giving a service, donation
or experience instead.

4. Plan your meals and buy only the ingredients that you need. Share leftovers
with friends and family to ensure nothing goes in the bin.

5. Look for gifts that are made from recycled or upcycled materials such as
wallets made from old transit canvas or jewellery from cutlery.

6. Send e-cards rather than traditional cards and keep any cards received to cut
into strips for use as gift tags the following year.

7. Collect flat household batteries from any Christmas toys and drop them off for
recycling at the local Council office or Waste Transfer Station.

8. If you receive a gift that doesn’t fit or is really not wanted, consider donating it
to a charity so it can find another home.

9. Borrow or hire anything you need for a party rather than buying, especially if it
will only be used for a short time.

10. Take the lids off plastic and glass bottles that go into the kerbside recycling bin
and place the lids in the garbage to reduce contamination of good recycling.

11. If electronic equipment is upgraded, contact your local council to find out about
e-waste recycling options and local collection points for old mobile phones.

12. Get crafty with decorations using cuttings from the garden or make items from
last year’s wrapping and cards that can be stored and reused.

The festive season might seem overly daunting and wasteful. But there are solutions.
We just need to buy a little less, think a little different...