Home insurance - Tips & Advice - Green living
The season to be jolly has long been associated with over-indulgence, but with a little care you can have fun at Christmas and avoid leaving the planet nursing a post-festive season hangover.
Over the short Christmas period the UK gets through and extra 750 million glass bottles and jars, 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging and an incredible 83 square km of wrapping paper (source: www.wasteonline.org.uk).
You can begin to rein in this excess by buying less of everything. The money saved can be spent on better quality food and gifts, and decorations that can be used again the following year.
Christmas trees
Cutting down a healthy tree to display in your house for a few weeks over yuletide is probably not the most ecologically sound thing you could ever do. However, putting up a Christmas tree is such an established tradition that it would take only the strongest-minded environmentalist to give it up completely. So what can you do?
There is a popular misconception that artificial trees are a greener option because you can use them again and again. However, these trees usually contain non-biodegradable PVC, and use fossil fuels and release harmful gases into the environment both in production and disposal. At least real trees absorb carbon dioxide during their 'production', rather than giving it off. And, of course, they are biodegradable. Although, on the other hand, they, too, are usually grown using pesticides and other chemicals.
The best option is to find an organic Christmas tree or one with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accreditation – there are not many, but the Soil Association has a list of growers. If you can't find an organic tree, at least get one with roots that you can replant after the Christmas period.
If you do get a cut tree, recycle it afterwards. Thousands of tonnes of Christmas trees get dumped in landfill sites each year, even though most councils will collect them and turn them into woodchip to use in public gardens.
Decorations
Once you have your tree up, you'll then need some decorations. As with many things connected with Christmas, these could be environmentally-unsound bits of non-biodegradable plastic produced in polluting factories on the other side of the world, often by poorly paid workers. There are lots of alternatives, however, which you can buy from eco retailers or from charities such as Oxfam and WWF.
If you're feeling really creative, you could make your own decorations from recycled objects such as old CDs and DVDs.
Christmas cards
The age-old tradition of sending Christmas cards may be under threat from the Internet, but from the point of view of the planet, this is no bad thing. Over 300,000 trees are cut down to make the 1 billion Christmas cards binned in the UK each year (source: www.envirowise.gov.uk). Add to that all the energy used to cut down the trees, turn them into cards and transport them into the shops. Then there is the plastic packaging they often come in. All in all, the waste far outweighs the few moments of pleasure receiving a card brings – especially if it is from a work colleague or friend you see most days anyway.
One greener, although admittedly less satisfying, option is to send e-cards. There are dozens of e-card websites on the Internet, and although they're often tacky, there are good ones to be found if you trawl around, including some that play little funny videos.
If you really can't countenance sending anything but cards made of card, at least make sure it is recycled card. Many charities produce cards on recycled paper, so you can make sure the money you spend goes to a good cause.
Recycling
No matter how eco-efficient you are, you are bound to get a least a few Christmas cards in the mail. Don’t let the post-Christmas blues distract you from your green ways, however. Remember, after all the festivities are over, to recycle your cards. The Woodland Trust runs a huge recycling scheme for Christmas cards in which every year recycling boxes are placed in various well-known stores across the country.
With most shops increasingly stocking up on green alternatives for everything, from Christmas cards to gin, and milder winters making snow less likely, a green Christmas is now becoming a more realistic dream than a white one!
Related information:
Minimise house party damage – mulled wine and carpets don't mix. Get some tips on how to avoid accidental damage caused by your Christmas party guests.
Fight the freeze – find out how to prevent winter damage to your property.
Home security – if you're going to be away for the Christmas period, read up on home security with our useful articles.
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