How to reduce your waste on Christmas Day – Ethically Kate

Avoid piles of wrapping paper, ribbons and tissue paper during Christmas gift-giving by minimising waste. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

Christmas Day gift-giving can lead to a pile of wrapping paper, ribbons and tissue paper in the lounge. And while standard paper can be put in the recycling bin, metallic or shiny paper can’t be recycled, and neither can ribbons or bows. Minimising waste is a good idea, and Kate Hall — aka Ethically Kate — has some helpful tips for cutting down your rubbish, finding crafty alternatives and avoiding pointless clutter.

Let’s start with that anxiety-inducing pile of ripped-up wrapping paper that accumulates at the bottom of your Christmas tree and litters your lounge over the course of the day before ending up stuffed into a rubbish bag or worse yet, contaminating your recycling bin — yes, the majority of wrapping paper is not recyclable.

Considering an alternative to wrapping paper is one of the easiest ways to reduce waste. Use secondhand scarves, old sheets, classy tea towels, pillowcases, or if you’re feeling crafty make your own reusable wrapping paper from thrifted fabric. Things such as glass jars work for gifts beyond homemade baking, too; I recently stuffed a t-shirt into a glass jar and wrapped a vine around the top before gifting it to a family member. It looked beautiful and the jar was repurposed for pantry storage.

If you’re feeling crafty, make your own reusable wrapping paper from thrifted fabric. Photo / 123rf

Once you’ve sorted out your sustainable wrapping paper solutions, you can look forward to your lounge looking less like a rubbish dump on Christmas Day while considering what will be inside the wrapping paper. In the sustainability world we often talk about having ‘less’ impact on Christmas Day but when it comes to presents it’s about positive impact and more of it.

Christmas is your chance to support small businesses that deserve your money. Christmas markets are a great way to get your sustainable Christmas shopping done in one swoop and find businesses that you haven’t heard of before. Start hunting early instead of finding yourself buying pointless items on Christmas Eve that ultimately end up in the junk cupboard come February.

To save money and add more meaning to your gift, think beyond physical items. In our family, we give dinner vouchers and the promise of time together in the New Year. Sometimes we give our skills. For example, in 2021 my husband and I gave my parents a clean house. On a day that suited them, we cleaned their bathroom and vacuumed their house!

Think beyond physical items to save money and add more meaning to your gift. Cleaning someone's house can be a generous gift. Photo / 123rf

Another great technique for reducing wasteful presents on Christmas Day is Secret Santa. Instead of having to think of a gift for everyone in your family which usually involves spending a tokenistic $20 on pointless clutter, suggest a higher budget but each person only buys one gift. I use the free drawnames.co.nz website that randomly selects everyone’s Secret Santa and allows everyone in my family to create a Wishlist that only their Secret Santa can see.

A sustainable Christmas sounds like a nuisance if you let myths about sustainable living creep in. But speaking from experience, it’s the best way to save money while creating a more joy-filled Christmas Day for you, your family, and the planet.