How To Be More Sustainable This Christmas
A sustainable Christmas sounds like it is a bit of a stretch. It just seems like there is so much waste such as food waste and wrapping paper, especially if you have children.
As we all know, living a sustainable lifestyle is difficult until you know how or what to look for. It includes the materials that you look for in clothes and other items that you use daily.
When it comes to the festive period, there are several things that you can do to ensure you and your family are more sustainable this Christmas. In this article, we are going to help you with the things you can do to ensure you are having a fun but eco-friendly Christmas this year.
Stick To Seasonal Foods
Food will be your number one priority to be more sustainable this Christmas. Buying foods that are in season is a great way to ensure you are living a sustainable lifestyle at Christmas. It includes fruit and vegetables such as carrots, leeks, parsnips and potatoes. Moreover, if you are lucky enough to have a local farmers market, this is the perfect time to shop with them.
Something else you can consider for the festive period is to start growing your fruit and vegetables. Yes, it is a bit late now to start growing your fruit and vegetables for Christmas as the majority of them would not have time to grow. Nonetheless, it is something you can consider for next year.
Another thing we recommend when you are shopping for your festive goods is to ditch plastic bags at the counter. Start taking your bags as this is more environmentally friendly and is a great way of living more sustainably.
Avoid Festive Food Waste
It will be one of the most challenging things you can do over the festive period. During Christmas, you want to ensure that everybody has eaten too much and there is no space for dessert. But why is it that we double the portion size for everyone during the festive period when we know some family members don’t have the largest of appetites? This year, you should stop cooking excessive amounts of potatoes and other foods and start considering the environment.
This year, we encourage you to start measuring your portion sizes. Once you have measured the correct portion sizes to what you would usually cook, add another couple of portions on top. It allows people to get extra when they are having their Christmas dinner plus, it allows someone to have another portion the following day if it hasn’t all been eaten. There is nothing better than having a Christmas dinner on the following.
Biodegradable Wrapping Paper
If you have a lot of siblings or children, you will know there is a lot of wrapping paper that goes into the bin. Now, you can ensure that you are sustainable with your presents by wrapping them in biodegradable wrapping paper. Even the messiest part of Christmas can now be sustainable! You can get biodegradable wrapping paper online really easily, then you can either recycle it or if you have a compost bin, simply remove any plastic tape if you’ve used it and then place it in there! In less than 6 months it will have completely decomposed. It really is this simple and this is such a positive change you can make.
Consider Your Christmas Gifts
When it comes to shopping for your friends and family, we advise that you start shopping for organic gifts. Something that the fashion industry is pushing now is that they are using organic cotton and other sustainable materials. There are hundreds, if not thousands of brands that ensure they are sustainable fashion brands.
Even with a jewellery gift, you can ensure you are being sustainable. There are hundreds of vintage jewellery stores to buy from now. Furthermore, if you are looking to propose to your partner on Christmas day, buy them an antique engagement ring. Vintage jewellery stores are a step away from modern jewellery brands, meaning that they are not supporting modern mining, which is one of the biggest contributors to CO2 emissions.
Summary
Living a sustainable lifestyle gives you a feel-good factor about yourself, never mind when you do it during the Christmas period. We understand that Christmas is a busy period for some people and may find it difficult to be more eco-conscious. Nonetheless, if you see items of clothing or other items that are organic then buy them and we start considering our planet.