Tips for a Greener Christmas
Richard Pearce, URC Mersey Green Apostle, offers easy eco Christmas Tips.
Christmas cards
• Try sending e-cards instead of traditional cards
• Buy from Fair Trade or recycled Forest Foundation approved
• Donate money saved from cards & postage to good causes
• Cut gift tags from old cards
• If you must bin your cards make sure they are recycled.
Wrapping paper
Use wrappings which are easy to reuse or recycle:
• Brown paper (tied up with ribbon)
• Tissue paper
• Paper bags (not the plastic-coated ones)
• Reusable drawstring bags from waste fabric.
Christmas gifts
• Buy recycled, up-cycled, organic, Fairtrade, sustainable and local;
• Create home-made gifts such as bakery items, jams, chutneys etc. and package in recycled glass jars – see BBC Good Food website for Christmas gift ideas: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/
• Look out for eco logos, such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Scientific Certification Systems, Forest Stewardship Council, Energy Star and Palm Oil
Free
• Green gifts: use online ethical suppliers such as the Ethical Superstore: https://www.ethicalsuperstore.com and Ethical Consumer: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
• Buy battery-free gifts. About 40% of battery sales occur during Christmas and discarded batteries are an environmental hazard
• Consider suggesting a Secret Santa with friends and family
• Give a gift of your time or an experience or activity rather than a physical gift
• Make sure that your Christmas stockings are filled with sustainable and/or home-made gifts. See https://www.protecttheplanet.co.uk/ for small eco-friendly gifts.
Christmas lights
• Use LED bulbs, solar powered lights (outside) and those using rechargeable batteries;
• Remember to turn off when you don’t need them;
• Use candles made from beeswax or vegetable sources rather than paraffin-wax.
Christmas decorations
• Make your own, using materials you can recycle and avoid glitter
• If buying decorations buy pre-loved, recycled, Fairtrade, organic and sustainable
• Decorate your home and make wreaths out of greenery, holly, ivy, pinecones and rose hips etc.
Christmas trees
• Dress a tree in your garden with home-made decorations and solar lights. Consider using seed balls/trays, suet, pinecones and peanut butter to provide a food source for birds during the winter
• Plant a living tree in a pot to bring indoors at Christmas making sure that it has good roots and is kept watered
• Buy a tree locally to reduce the CO2 footprint of transporting it, check that you are buying from a sustainable source (The British Christmas Tree Growers
Association has a list of growers)
• If you choose to go rootless, recycle your tree after Christmas at a recycling centre where it can be shredded and reused.
Christmas Crackers
• Buy eco-friendly or reusable crackers for example from the RSPB: https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/christmas-shop/christmas-crackers
• Make your own crackers, using toilet roll inserts and recycled paper. That way you can choose the gifts inside.
Christmas Food
• Shop local, organic, Fairtrade (including your drinks). Farmers markets are brilliant for organic products and their CO2 footprint for transport is small
• Try reducing the amount of meat you include in your meals, there are lots of good vegetarian and vegan options now
• If you do have any leftovers use them (check out the BBC’s Good Food website: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/)
• And finally, use your composter and green bin for scraps where possible.
These tips are based on a document produced by the Warrington URC Pastorate for Christmas 2021. This has been updated and augmented with reference to guides produced by the World Wildlife Federation and A Rocha:
· https://www.wwf.org.uk/top-tips-sustainable-christmas
· https://arocha.org.uk/our-twelve-tips-for-a-greener-christmas/
Visit our Eco Church Resources page for all-year-round support Eco Church — URC Mersey (urcmerseysynod.org.uk)
