A Greener Christmas- Lets talk Wrapping

Why

I have become increasingly aware of the abundance of waste and excessive buying that Christmas brings about now. At Christmas we produce 30% more waste than any other time of year and enough wrapping paper to paper all the way to the moon (Source here).

What

I have therefore decided to write a series of articles with idea of how we can all make small changes to help cut waste this Christmas, and also save ourselves a few pounds (which is never a bad thing) I am linking with various Hertfordshire businesses who are making their own pledges and providing suggestings or little swaps or changes we can all make this Christmas to make a difference. Am i asking you to all go zero waste- no! But am I asking Hertfordshire Parents to partake in A Greener Christmas and make a few small changes this christmas to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce some waste- yes. 

Reduce

Last week we blogged about reducing the number of presents you buy and of course this does tie into this weeks blog too as fewer presents = less wrapping.

I have also reliably been informed that for many of you santa does not wrap the gifts he brings to your houses. Instead the items Santa has brought as left unwrapped around the tree. Could this be a feasible option for you? Many Santa could write and explain that the protect those polar ice caps he is trying to do his part to save the planet and therefore is not wrapping his gifts this year? Just a suggestion!

If you are anything like me i also have an entire cupboard full of xmas gift bags, i usuaully wrap gifts and then put them inside, but why? If the gift is for an adult from now on I think i will just place the item in the gift bag and use some non plastic tape to close the top.

Check that paper- is it recyclable?

For when reducing wrap isn't an option and we obviously don't want to seem like a scrooge here, making better choices for the wrapping you use is another simple way to go a little greener this christmas. 

Wrapping paper is paper right? So it can all be recycled? The short answer? Not always.

Popular gift wraps often contain more than just paper some wrapping paper contains plastic! Also generally if theres anything glittery on it - it usually cannot be recycled. 

Look for paper marked as recyclable or even better wrapping made from already recycled paper. If you are unsure Simon Ellin of the BBC says "try to scrunch up the paper into a ball. If it scrunches, and stays scrunched, it can probably be recycled." (Source).

Its not just the paper that we need to be making wiser choices on however the mountains of sellotape on paper can also be an issue and make recyclable paper non recyclable sellotape sell a zero plastic plant based tape which is a great option. (Link here) 

It is worthy of note that not all councils will accept wrapping paper in recycling bins. You will need to check this with you local council. The Link to contact East Herts is here.

You may need to take it along to a recycling centre. 

What about brown paper?

Personally I love brown paper wrapping (santa brings our gifts in brown paper tied in red ribbon (which we reuse each year). Sometimes the temptation to decorate brown paper especially with young children can be immense. But is brown paper actually recyclable? It really does depend, againyou will need to check with your local council before putting it in your paper caddy. (At the time of publicating I am awaiting a response from East Herts. With regards to decorating , our advice? Dont do it. Only 5% of the paper can be decorated otherwise it makes it much harder to recycle, plus some types of paint of crayons make the paper not able to be recycled at all. 

Reusable bags/wrapping

I am a massive fan of reusuable wrap. I am really into sewing and this year have used some of my fabric scraps to sew some reusable gift bags. I do have a little sewing machine but you could hand sew , i still wanted the wripping sensation so i added velcro to the top. 

Alternatively you could buy some reusuable gift bags locally, do you have any left over from amazon gifts? Or you could even go old school and use pillow cases tied with ribbon.

I hope you've found some of these suggestions useful, you don't need to attempt all of these, or even any of them , we are producing various different blogs on ways to be a little greener this Christmas so perhaps if reducing presents isnt for you you may be able to go a little greener in another way.

If you've any other suggestions let us know.

Thanks for Reading

Kayleigh 

XxxX

UK Parent Blogger