5 Easy ways to Celebrate a Sustainable Christmas

Christmas is fast approaching! It's time to put up the Christmas tree, hang the Christmas decorations, start singing the Christmas Carols, and if you haven't shopped for presents yet let the Christmas shopping chaos begin!⁠

We love Christmas, but we also hate how much waste occurs around Christmas time. Did you know that nearly 5 million tonnes of food goes straight into landfill, and over 150,000 km of wrapping paper is used every Christmas?! The environmental impacts of producing that and then it going in to landfill is huge! And what about all the unwanted Christmas gifts that get thrown away or the unnecessary small plastic toys that fill Santa sacks… Christmas is one of the most wasteful and environmentally harmful times of year - but we don’t want you to stop celebrating!

So this year, we encourage you to think a little more green this Christmas... and we don’t mean the Christmas Grinch, we are talking a green, plastic-free and environmentally-friendly Christmas.

Don’t worry it’s easy to go green this Christmas, here are our top 5 easy ways to celebrate a sustainable Christmas.

1. Ditch the Plastic Christmas Tree and find an eco-friendly Christmas alternative

⁠Instead of buying a plastic Christmas tree this year, decorate a plant you already have in the house!  Or buy yourself an early Christmas present with a new house-plant – that’s one way of going green this Christmas! We also love living Christmas trees that you can use every year! Japanese and English Boxwood are perfect for real Christmas trees, keep them in a pot and each year trim them into shape ready for the festive season! You can even rent a Christmas tree, do some research and see what is available in your local area.

2. Say Goodbye to single-use Christmas decorations and hello to family fun this festive season

Christmas decorations used to be all about tinsel and plastic Christmas ornaments… memories of shiny micro-plastics shedding across the living room would be familiar to most people! Tinsel is made from non-recycled plastic, and unfortunately cannot be recycled, and while you might use it again the next year – there is a lot of wastage with tinsel. So make your own - it can be a fun family activity – part of the festive cheer! We love making recycled Christmas decorations, some of our favourites include:  Christmas bunting made from recycled cards, magazine Christmas stars or Christmas trees, hand-cut paper snowflakes, wine cork decorations, dried oranges for Christmas ornaments use your imagination! Scrap paper and newspaper can make for great ornaments. Have fun – it’s so much better than purchasing it from a shop!

Here's some great suggestions on what Christmas Decorations to make with the family this year.

3. Give sustainable Christmas Gifts that Don’t Cost the Earth

An exorbitant amount of unwanted Christmas gifts go into landfill every year, so many gifts are forgotten, put in the rubbish or given to charity shops. Then there’s the little stocking fillers that are usually pieces of junk that no one wants! The amount of waste we produce increases by 30% at Christmas! So give wisely this Christmas, shop sustainably and give gifts that are kind to the environment – plus the receiver will love them! We have so many wonderful Christmas gift suggestions, including our beautiful sustainable gift hampers which are packed with Tasmanian goods that are kind to the planet. Don’t waste your money on a present that won’t be appreciated!

Shop our full range here for eco-friendly Christmas gifts.

4. Sustainable Christmas Gift Wrapping with Fabric or recycled paper

As we said earlier, a huge amount of wrapping paper gets used each year and subsequently goes into landfill, so this year change the way your gift wrap. We suggest reusing last year’s Christmas paper, or wrap your presents in old newspaper – add a ribbon and a flower decoration and voila – beautiful, environmentally friendly gift-wrapping! Our favourite way to wrap gifts is with Furoshiki – using fabric! We offer Furoshiki wrapping as an add-on to all our products, so we wrap the gift for you! If you would prefer to wrap the present yourself, you can purchase the beautiful material here. Or you could use some of your old fabric lying around at home. Wrapping your presents with fabric is great as it can be used so year after year!

Learn more about Furoshiki Gift Wrapping here.

5. Gift Recycled Christmas cards or get crafty and make your own festive card

Christmas cards are ridiculously cheap – you can buy huge packs enclosed in plastic with shiny gold and silver and fat red-rosy cheeked Santas… most of the time they aren’t very nice and terrible for the environment! You’ve probably got an old drawer full of last years cards, so reuse them! Rip off the front and write on it like a postcard, or find old bits of card and photos to write on. Head to your local opportunity shop, there is often a section with old cards, or buy old magazines and make your own! If you do buy cards, look for recycled brands and support local.