GREECEHow to have a sustainable Christmas
15.11.2011
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Christmas is a great time of year for celebrating, getting together with family, relaxing and eating. It's also a time of year where reducing waste and promoting sustainability can be the furthest things from our minds. It is possible to have a great festive season this year without leaving a huge impact on the environment, by following these few simple tips.
Reduce your waste this Christmas
Christmas is a time of year when we are all particularly generous, and that usually means we are generous with our food quantities too. Christmas is a great reason for a day of merry-making, eating and drinking with family and loved ones, but there's no need to over cater and see food go to waste.
Did you know that Australians throw out around AUD 5 billion worth of food each year? That's more than AUD 600 per household every year. Not only is that a huge waste of money, it means water and energy has been wasted to manufacture and transport that food.
To help reduce your food waste:
1. Plan Meals
Plan meals and make enough food so that you have plenty, but don’t make or buy food that you couldn't possibly consume. And if you don't manage to eat it all, why not get creative with leftovers?
2. Buy local and in season
One of the best things about summer is that there are so many delicious fruits and vegetables in season, like Australian mangoes, nectarines, lychees and apricots. When you buy in season fruit and vegetables you are ensuring that it has not travelled half way around the planet in refrigerated trucks or ships to get to you.
To find out which fruits and veg are in season any time of year, check out this great guide from My Green Australia.
3. Choose MSC certified
Make sure you only use MSC certified seafood if you’re holding a seafood BBQ this Christmas. Find out more on the Marine Stewardship Council's Web site.
4. Compost
This time of year, when you have a few days off work, is a great time to start your own compost heap and your own veggie garden, especially if you're staying home over the holidays. It's a great way to put food scraps to good use. Not sure where to start? Check out the government's Living Greener Web site for some tips on getting your compost started.
Recycling and loving your forests
Recycle
Lighten the load that the planet has to bear by recycling as much as possible. Think of all those Christmas parties and the amount of waste they generate. You can easily recycle or reuse gift-wrapping and make sure you are recycling cans and bottles. Check out Kelly's recycling tips for more ideas.
Love your forests
Try to think of more sustainable options to wrap your gifts in. Buy recycled or FSC certified wrapping paper or Christmas cards that have been printed on recycled or FSC certified card. Buying wooden outdoor furniture or gifts made from wood? Make sure you check whether the wood is FSC certified.
Check out the Love Your Forests website to find out more about choosing sustainable, FSC certified products which also include Kleenex Cottonelle, Viva Paper Towel and Kleenex Tissues.
Quality not quantity
Buy gifts that are good quality, useful and will last... don't just buy useless stuff that you know will end up in landfill. You can decorate your home beautifully without using too many decorations or using lights that use a lot of energy. If you are buying new Christmas decorations this year, try to keep them low impact.
Get crafty
Why not challenge your kids to come up with Christmas decorations using recycled goods? Having a craft session with your kids and making your own decorations is a great way to get them involved and start to teach them about reducing their impact on the planet.
Do you have any more ideas to share on how to have a sustainable Christmas?
Reduce your waste this Christmas
Christmas is a time of year when we are all particularly generous, and that usually means we are generous with our food quantities too. Christmas is a great reason for a day of merry-making, eating and drinking with family and loved ones, but there's no need to over cater and see food go to waste.
Did you know that Australians throw out around AUD 5 billion worth of food each year? That's more than AUD 600 per household every year. Not only is that a huge waste of money, it means water and energy has been wasted to manufacture and transport that food.
To help reduce your food waste:
1. Plan Meals
Plan meals and make enough food so that you have plenty, but don’t make or buy food that you couldn't possibly consume. And if you don't manage to eat it all, why not get creative with leftovers?
2. Buy local and in season
One of the best things about summer is that there are so many delicious fruits and vegetables in season, like Australian mangoes, nectarines, lychees and apricots. When you buy in season fruit and vegetables you are ensuring that it has not travelled half way around the planet in refrigerated trucks or ships to get to you.
To find out which fruits and veg are in season any time of year, check out this great guide from My Green Australia.
3. Choose MSC certified
Make sure you only use MSC certified seafood if you’re holding a seafood BBQ this Christmas. Find out more on the Marine Stewardship Council's Web site.
4. Compost
This time of year, when you have a few days off work, is a great time to start your own compost heap and your own veggie garden, especially if you're staying home over the holidays. It's a great way to put food scraps to good use. Not sure where to start? Check out the government's Living Greener Web site for some tips on getting your compost started.
Recycling and loving your forests
Recycle
Lighten the load that the planet has to bear by recycling as much as possible. Think of all those Christmas parties and the amount of waste they generate. You can easily recycle or reuse gift-wrapping and make sure you are recycling cans and bottles. Check out Kelly's recycling tips for more ideas.
Love your forests
Try to think of more sustainable options to wrap your gifts in. Buy recycled or FSC certified wrapping paper or Christmas cards that have been printed on recycled or FSC certified card. Buying wooden outdoor furniture or gifts made from wood? Make sure you check whether the wood is FSC certified.
Check out the Love Your Forests website to find out more about choosing sustainable, FSC certified products which also include Kleenex Cottonelle, Viva Paper Towel and Kleenex Tissues.
Quality not quantity
Buy gifts that are good quality, useful and will last... don't just buy useless stuff that you know will end up in landfill. You can decorate your home beautifully without using too many decorations or using lights that use a lot of energy. If you are buying new Christmas decorations this year, try to keep them low impact.
Get crafty
Why not challenge your kids to come up with Christmas decorations using recycled goods? Having a craft session with your kids and making your own decorations is a great way to get them involved and start to teach them about reducing their impact on the planet.
Do you have any more ideas to share on how to have a sustainable Christmas?
Source: Kleenex Mums,
sharing the collective wisdom of Australian mums
(written by mums for mums to share the best (and worst)
about family life, kids, health, keeping house and more).
sharing the collective wisdom of Australian mums
(written by mums for mums to share the best (and worst)
about family life, kids, health, keeping house and more).
