Top tips for Christmas

Hello everyone,

This post is all about how to help the environment over Christmas.

1. Try not to travel massive distances by plane

Christmas is the time of the year to get the whole family together, not go on holiday. Enjoy the environment around you, talk to the friends and neighbours that you normally talk to, you don't need to fly half way aroudn the globe for just one week. Of course, if you are travelling to visit family this doesn't really count.

2. Christmas trees;

Most people buy a new Christmas tree every year and then throw it away in January. The more environmentally friendly option is to buy a small Christmas tree in a pot and put it out in the garden and let it grow for the rest of the year and then bring it in again next Christmas. There are quite a few advantages when doing this.

1. Planted trees don't drop loads of needles.

2. It saves money because you don't have to pay for a new tree every year.

3. It saves the hassle of trying to get a massive tree from the shop to your home.

The downside is that you need a garden or a plot of land where you can plant the tree from January until December.

3. Wrapping paper

When you're wrapping up gifts for friends and family, try and think about how you're wrapping them. There are several ways to be more environmentally friendly when it comes to wrapping paper.

3.1. Wrap it up in a newspaper

Advantages:

1. Saves money because you don't have to buy wrapping paper.

2. Wrapping paper is often wrapped in plastic in the shop, so using newspapers saves plastic.

3. Reuse the newspaper, and reusing stuff is always good.

3.2. Be careful of how you wrap and unwrap presents

So if you don't want to use newspaper, then you can still use wrapping paper. Here's how it works:

1. Try to choose nice wrapping paper

2. Don't use sellotape or anything that will rip the paper. Use string instead.

3. Try and wrap it with as fewer folds as possible.

4. When you're on the receiving end:

    4.1. Unwrap it carefully to avoid ripping the paper

    4.2. Use the wrapping paper for something else. For instance:

           4.2.1. Make a bookmark out of it 

           4.2.2. Save it for next Christmas

           4.2.3. Find another use for it that avoids chucking it away

4. No tinsel

So tinsel is be quite popular. It can also make the holiday feel even better. But what happens to tinsel after Christmas? It gets thrown away. Tinsel also drops little plastic strands that often end up inside a sea animal's stomach! So this year, try and avoid tinsel. It isn't that hard.

5. Presents

When you walk down a supermarket alley at Christmas, you see tons of presents. The majority of them are either wrapped in plastic or made of it. Trying to find a present that doesn't contain plastic can be hard. Normally the only things that don't contain plastic are books. (Not that any of us would ever say no to a book!) But if you know someone who doesn't like books, it can be hard to find them a present.

However, there's another option: homemade presents. Ok, so these take longer, but they're cheaper. Sometimes they don't cost a penny because they're made from things you've already got around the house. Also, homemade presents are lovely to receive because you know that the other person put time and effort into them.

So those were our five top tips for Christmas. If you can think of any more, write them in the comments or send us an email at contact.greenworldblog@gmail.com

In case we don't publish another post before then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Image: This image is owned by Skylar Kang on pexels.com.