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When you start planning celebrations and buying Christmas food and gifts. We can take some simple steps to make Christmas more sustainable

Natural resources that can be used to make holiday decorations.

At this time of the year, we generate more waste than at any other time. For example, according to Recycle Now, we produce approximately 300,000 tons of cardboard packaging, enough to wrap the London Eye 50,000 times.

We also need to consider how to remove avoidable plastic from holiday preparations. Includes Christmas cards, decorations and gifts. Approximately 12 million tons of plastic enter our environment every year, which is equivalent to one garbage truck per minute.

If choosing your tree is one of your holiday highlights, how do you choose a lovely tree that is as sustainable as possible?

Artificial Christmas trees need to be used for about 10 years because they have a lower environmental impact than real Christmas trees.

Better yet, have you considered buying a potted tree, and then you can plant it outside after the holiday. If you don't have space to grow it, you can put it in a flower pot on the outside terrace. This allows you to do your part for the environment and reuse the tree again next year. Can be used for a lifetime!

Trees, woods and forests are essential to respond to climate emergencies. Purchasing a real Christmas tree from a UK Grown certified supplier will ensure that the Christmas tree comes from a legal and sustainable UK source.

If you don't have a potted tree, make sure to recycle your tree responsibly. Visit your local authority website to learn how to recycle your trees.

Invest in a reusable Christmas Eve box, which can be used for many years in the future, and may even become a family heirloom!

You can be creative and make your own reusable boxes and items to fill it, and you can even make your pet1.

Why not give eco-friendly gifts to family and friends. Buy a unique gift this year.

It can be a reusable coffee cup, a reusable makeup remover wipe or a solid shampoo stick. This will encourage positive behavior changes, leading to a more sustainable lifestyle.

You can even gift your membership to a charity or Wildlife Trust to help support important environmental work.

Recyclable wrapping paper can be used. If it has foil or glitter on it, it cannot be recycled and may contain plastic. Most supermarkets have recyclable options, so try to buy these.

You can use old newspapers to wrap gifts, and you can even recycle last year's paper.

How to be creative and use potato stamps to decorate wrapping paper and add a holly tree to create a Christmas feel.

Instead of adding plastic ribbons to gifts that will eventually be landfilled, use more sustainable alternatives. You can use fabric bows that can be kept and reused to add vitality to future gifts.

Look for the things you already own and reuse them to decorate your Christmas gifts.

When the fabric bows/ribbons have reached the end of their life, they are processed together with other textile recycling.

We throw away about 1 billion Christmas cards every year. It takes the equivalent of 33 million trees to make such a number of cards.

If possible, buy recyclable cards printed on FSC certified, recyclable cards. Some cards have detachable items on the front that contain wild flower seeds that can be planted in the soil during the New Year.

Even better is to seek a personal style and use recycled cards to make your own style. Your friends and family will receive unique cards that don’t cost the earth!

Remember, just like wrapping paper, if the cards are decorated with glitter or foil, they cannot be recycled.

Avoid using disposable decorations. Why not become cunning and make some homemade decorations.

You can use natural resources such as pine cones, and you can decorate with branches or make your own natural stars as tree tops.

A great environmentally friendly Christmas decoration for years to come.

A homemade decoration that can be given as a gift or as a holiday decoration for the next few years.

When cooking Christmas dinners and other festive dishes, we can protect the environment in some simple but important ways.

Try to buy as many items as possible from local suppliers, such as meat, fruits, and vegetables.

Dairy products are one of the most harmful items dumped from the kitchen sink into the environment. It needs a lot of oxygen to decompose, which means that there is less oxygen in the water for wild animals. This is why pouring milk into the sewer is a criminal offense for companies.

Don't try to pour leftover dessert custard, cream and yogurt in the sink. Instead, pay attention to over-purchasing dairy products.

If you do have leftover dairy products, please recycle them in your food waste bin. Most food waste recycling committees will accept dairy products as part of their collections, which are often used in facilities that can generate energy from waste, so the discarded products will be well used.

Wreaths are a beautiful Christmas decoration, but some are more environmentally friendly than others. Avoid garlands decorated with plastic accessories and sparkling ornaments. These are not only made of unsustainable materials, but if hung outside, they can be harmful to birds and wild animals.

Choose truly fresh wreaths made with seasonal natural leaves and decorations. Even better, you can use fabrics year after year or natural resources in your own garden (such as leaves and pine cones) to make your own fabrics.

Unfortunately, most Christmas cookies are often full of glitter, making them unrecyclable. They are also filled with plastic toys and gifts, and they will be thrown away once the last bite of Christmas dinner is eaten.

Why not make unique Christmas cookies without environmental costs. Use FSC certified recycled paper and check whether it can be recycled after use. Use recyclable paper ties to tie them together. Each cookie can contain a recyclable paper cap and joke, as well as a wooden Christmas tree decoration or compostable chocolate packaging. You can reuse shoeboxes or something similar to put them in.

If not, you can buy Christmas biscuits using FSC-certified recycled paper. The contents are also sustainable.

Why not go for a Christmas walk instead of driving or just sitting in front of the TV?

Facts have proved that being in a green space is good for your physical and mental health. Especially during the pandemic, the huge benefits that people get from seeking comfort from nature become more apparent.

We can take care of ourselves through more outdoor activities, but we also need to take care of nature. Make sure you follow the Country Code, which tells you how to go out and enjoy the green space while respecting wildlife and other people.

Did you know that 93% of sewer blockages in the UK are caused by cosmetics and sanitary wipes?

Even if they do not contain plastic, most of these wipes will not decompose due to their non-woven materials. This prevents them from breaking while cleaning the surface or removing makeup.

Once flushed into the toilet, the wipes will get stuck in the pipe, accumulate and condense into cellulite. They also litter the beaches and even form large and messy mounds along the riverbed. If you use makeup remover wipes after the Christmas celebration, remember to never rinse the wipes!

These small changes have reduced a lot of waste to ensure that this Christmas will not cost the planet!

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