Christmas is coming – and although most of us love the festive season, it’s traditionally bad news for the planet.
December brings with it increased product buying, more packaging, more commercial transport – and vast amounts of rubbish afterwards.
It is estimated that wrapping paper alone used in the UK at Christmas, would cover the whole of Guernsey – and gifts aside, we will use around 750 million EXTRA bottles or glass containers and 500 million more drinks cans.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be bringing you some suggestions for a Greener Christmas and tips on reducing the amount of festive waste.
In the meantime, you could consider
• Sending an e-card rather than a traditional Christmas card to internet-savvy friends
• Buying as local as possible – often a small games shop in town will cost little more than a chainstore outlet – and you’ll be supporting your local economy
• Buying real charity Christmas cards – rather than those sold by many retailers which sometimes offer only a tiny donation to charity. Get them direct from Oxfam or your favourite charity instead
• Planning your Christmas menu in advance so that you don’t buy much more food than you really need
• Taking reusable bags on your shopping trips. (If you forget, it doesn’t mean to have to accept a bag in every store. Smaller items will often fit into a bag that you’re already carrying
• Checking the energy rating on any large appliances or electrical items that you intend to buy
You could also try to buy children’s toys that don’t need up to six batteries at a time. I’ve already bought traditional tiddly-winks for my little one. I used to be quite an expert so we’ll see if I’ve still got the knack
And if you work with more than a couple of people, suggest a Secret Santa this year where you put names in a hat and buy a gift for just the person whose name you pull out. It not only saves unnecessary (and often unwanted) gifts but cuts down on your shopping – and saves everyone money!
Mygreenweek 
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