Christmas comes once a year but can cause a mess that lasts months to clear and potentially, decades to break down in landfill.
In the spirit of Christmas New England Waste wants you to create the perfect day for friends and family in a low waste day that’s kind to the environment.
Here’s our top 10 tips to give both you and the earth a helping hand this festive season!
1. Environmentally friendly gifts and decorations
Wrap presents in butcher’s paper with twine, newspaper or simple brown paper. It’s an unassuming look that won’t detract from the gift itself
2.Give last year’s Christmas wrapping another festive season.
Instead of buying wrapping paper, see if you have any old paper from last year. You could choose to wrap the gift in a tea towel or beach towel, making it one of the gifts.
3. Make a shopping list for food and drink…and stick to it!
By making a list you are more likely to cater the right amount of food for your guests and minimise the amount of cleaning up on Boxing Day.
4. Keep food waste separate from general waste and recycling.
This will make it easy for you to compost leftover food. Food that ends up in landfill releases methane gases that contribute to global warming. By redirecting food waste away from garbage bin and into your compost you are directly helping the environment while reusing the food for a second time. You might consider getting a worm farm to chew through your waste and create a natural fertiliser that is rich in nutrients for your soil.
5. Separating waste at the source!
Create a bin system with cardboard boxes clearly marked “Food”, “Garbage”, “Recycling” that will cut down on time taken later on to separate waste. You will also be making a statement in front of friends and family in being environmentally responsible.
6. Giving your decorations a touch of individuality
All of us at New England Waste want you to have a memorable Christmas, however think about whether some of these items classed as necessary are in fact superfluous. How many bonbons go straight into the bin at the end of the meal? Could you decorate the table with something else that can be reused the following year such as a centrepiece made from a piece of beach driftwood and decorated with greenery from your garden.
7. Green decorations from Mother Earth
Festive decorations are beautiful but they can be expensive and every dollar counts at Christmas. New England Waste suggests you may want to look in your garden as a treasure trove of greenery to fill the house with at Christmas time. Mini Christmas trees can be made out of twigs, and sprigs of holly don’t need any dressing up. In January you can add it to your compost heap and return it to the environment with zero waste.
8. Make an effort to purchase reusable items
Try to buy items you can reuse once you’ve emptied them. Bottles can be used again; cans cannot. Ice cream tubs make for great Short of food storage containers? Empty ice cream tubs can be pressed back into service and empty drinks bottles can be used to store tap water in the fridge.
9.From trash to treasure!
Malcolm Lancaster from New England Waste has some innovative suggestions for reusing spent items. “Make candleholders from empty jam jars, while old light bulbs can be painted and transformed into Christmas baubles.”
10. In with the new…but what of the old?
If you receive a gift that doesn’t fit or is really not wanted, consider donating it to a charity so it can find another home rather than returning it, or throwing it in the dark recesses of your cupboard. At a time of year when we fill the house with more items, the team at New England Waste suggests you cast your mind to de-cluttering and giving your seasoned items a new home through a charity. There are many families that will love your old sofa as much as you have and you’ll be supporting a worthy cause while giving someone a much-needed helping hand at Christmas.
About New England Waste
New England Waste services the Armidale, Uralla, Glen Innes, Tenterfield, Guyra and areas and in between with an extensive range of skip bins, hook bins, septic services and port-a-loos. Family own and operated since 1979 by the Lancaster family, great service, expert solutions and great value are at the heart of New England Waste. See our range here:
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Words: F.Rafaneli
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