Tis the season to be Green & Jolly! By Sophie Goodall

In between buying and wrapping the presents, putting up your decorations, unwrapping those presents, eating your dinner and entertaining your relatives, there’s always time to be a bit greener. The great thing about being greener is that it goes hand in hand with spending less money too.

Having a green Christmas doesn’t mean being a Scrooge! Here are a few useful tips on how to have a greener, more sustainable and less expensive festive season but also a jolly one too!

Presents
More than 8,000 tonnes of wrapping paper will be used on presents in the UK at Christmas - that’s 50,000 trees.
Try flea markets, antique shops, and charity shops for gifts
Look for durable gifts which will last a long time
Give a charity, environmental or Fairtrade gift
Choose a greener version, e.g. solar powered, energy efficient and/or re-chargeable
Give priority to gifts with minimal or recycled packaging
Make your own wrapping paper from old magazines or newspapers, or reuse Christmas paper saved from last year – then recycle it afterwards
Wrap presents with ribbon or string instead of sticky tape.

Cards
More than 1 billion cards get sent in the UK at Christmas. If we recycled all our cards, that would save the equivalent of more than 240,000 trees.
Make your own cards from reused materials
Send cards made from recycled paper
Send an e-card or festive text message
Save your cards and reuse them as gift tags next year
Recycle your cards at branches of WHSmith, Marks and Spencer and TKMaxx during January to help raise funds for the Woodland Trust, so they can create much needed new UK woodland.

Decorations
Artificial trees are made from metal and PVC which require large amounts of energy to produce.
Buy a real tree, preferably with roots, from a small-scale sustainable grower or use one you planted in the garden last year. If you can’t replant your tree, make sure you compost it afterwards

If you have to buy an artificial tree, consider buying second-hand then using the same tree year after year. Make natural or recycled decorations from plants, seasonal berries, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, or scrap materials.

Food and drink
Around 4,000 million sprouts are bought in the week before Christmas.
Buy an organic free-range turkey or go vegetarian for the day with a tasty nut roast
Try not to over-buy food during the festive season
Buy locally produced, seasonal produce
Recycle bottles, jars, cans, cartons, aluminium foil and cardboard packaging
Compost any organic material such as vegetable peelings
Don’t pour poultry or meat fat down the drain

Energy
For every minute your fridge door is open it takes three minutes of electricity to cool it back down. Take drinks out of the fridge in batches instead of opening and closing the door regularly and if it’s cold, store drinks outside
Cook with pan lids on
When your guests arrive, turn down your heating thermostat - the body heat will more than compensate
Turn the TV off – get some fresh air and walk off that huge Christmas dinner or play a good old fashioned board game
Look for energy efficient festive lights, or use candles to create a relaxing atmosphere.

However you decide to celebrate this season, wishing you a very merry Christmas!

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