Wednesday 12 December 2018

How to reduce your waste over Christmas....

Brits will throw out 108 million rolls of wrapping paper, 54 million platefuls of food and use 189 million batteries over Christmas a study has found. 


A poll of 2,000 adults found the nation will also get through more than 40 million rolls of sticky tape and bin almost 100 million black bags full of packaging from toys and gifts.

I can quite believe that about the packaging, especially with toys. It is excessive and most of it isn't needed at all. We always fill a couple of bin bags full of plastic packaging and cardboard boxes on Christmas morning.

I have done a lot of shopping via Amazon in the run up to Christmas and sometimes I found things were delivered in ridiculously big boxes with paper rolled up to protect it which all had to go into the recycling bin. Such a waste! They do seem slightly better this year compared to past years though.

Seven in 10 admit to buying far more food than they need with two thirds saying at least some of the turkey usually ends up in the bin. The equivalent of a whole plateful of food will end up going to waste on Christmas Day, along with another plateful in the following days.

As a family we are guilty of wasting food over Christmas. It tends not to be the Christmas dinner as we eat the leftovers, it is usually the snacky type things in the fridge like pork pies and mini scotch eggs.

This year I am planning to cut down on the waste and buy lots of frozen party food. Sausage rolls, mini pizzas, chicken bits and things like that so we can just cook them when we want them instead of them going off in the fridge. 

More than one in four people throw batteries into the bin, despite knowing they shouldn’t, while three in 10 still use disposables instead of rechargeable's. We use rechargeable batteries and as well as saving us money it feels like we are doing something good for the environment.

Reading the facts I think it's pretty shocking how much waste Christmas creates. It is something to really think about!

How to reduce your waste over Christmas.

Use your Christmas cards to make gift tags for next years Christmas presents or keep them for the kids to do craft activities with.

Re-use ribbons, bows, gift bags, and boxes whenever you can. 

Buy rechargeable batteries for electrical goods and toys.

Before throwing out old Christmas decorations, consider if someone else may appreciate them. Donate them to a charity shop or your child's school. It if they are in acceptable condition. It might save them some money!

Make use of your leftovers from the Christmas dinner. There is hundreds of recipes online.

Only throw away food if it passes its use-by date. The sell-by and best-before dates are nothing to do with food safety.

If you’re having people over for a party try sticking to your normal crockery instead of buying paper plates and plastic cups. This will save loads of room in the bin even if there is a bit more washing up to do.

Sell or donate unwanted Christmas presents rather than throwing them away. If you get something new instead of throwing the old item away give it a new home.

Re-use and upcycle biscuit and sweet tins and glass jars and bottles to use as storage containers the rest of the year.

Do you create a lot of waste over Christmas? Are you trying to change your habits?

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