Christmas food
Let’s start with what many are looking forward to this time of the year… Christmas food!
An estimated 4 million Christmas dinners are thrown away every year, much of which could have been avoided.
Planning is key is to avoiding food waste! Make sure you make a list before you shop and try your best to stick to it. Apps like Microsoft To Do and IOS notes app are great tools for your mobile phone that can be used to make lists and it's especially helpful as it can be shared with your household members so you don’t buy any duplicates.
When writing your list, think about portion sizes needed. If you need some guidance on this, check out the Love Food Hate Waste handy portion planner here.
Storing food correctly is also key to making it last longer and avoiding the bin. Love Food Hate Waste also have a great A to Z food storage guide to help with this.
If you do end up buying more than needed, think about how you can creatively use up your Christmas leftovers. Here are some of our favourites.
Decorations
Christmas lights are something we can use year after year. If you no longer need them, consider passing them onto a friend or family member or re-purposing them into something new. They make great decorations for rooms or can be used to make a lamp with an old glass bottle.
More than 154 million Christmas crackers are pulled each year in the UK. That is a lot of party hats, bad jokes and tiny toys nobody really wants and often get chucked straight in the bin. Why not go without or try making your own this year? This way you can add your own personalised and meaningful gifts.
Christmas jumpers are the ultimate festive attire but many people only wear them once and throw them away! Read our Christmas jumper blog here to make the most of yours
Gifts
A great way of reducing waste at Christmas is buying second hand. You can use websites like eBay, Depop, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree or even your local charity shop to see if you can find preloved treasures. Alternatively, why not search local small businesses for sustainable gift ideas.
If you are looking for a zero/low waste option try virtual gift cards, experience days or even reusable gadgets such as water bottles and coffee cups (here are some of our favourites)
Wrapping paper can be difficult to recycle as it's often coated in plastic, glitter or other embellishments. Some Council’s also do not accept wrapping paper in their recycling collections so be sure to check before you throw it away.
Reusable gift boxes and bags are great alternatives that can be used again and again or why not be creative and wrap in old newspapers and magazines which can be recycled afterwards.
Recycling and Composting
Check your collections
Over the Christmas period, there may be some changes to your waste collections. Check out Your Council’s website for the most up to date information on collections
Barnsley Council: https://bit.ly/2WMbaNQ
Doncaster Council: https://bit.ly/3ao2Ub0
Rotherham Council: https://bit.ly/3n9hWKj
Sheffield Council: https://bit.ly/2y1TJyr
Cardboard
This time of the year often means a lot of online shopping which means lots of cardboard packaging. In fact, the UK uses a massive 300,000 tonnes of cardboard over the festive period!
Try to have orders shipped in the fewest number of parcels and re-purpose the packaging for wrapping presents. If not, don’t forget to flatten your boxes to use as little space as possible in your recycling bin.
Glass Bottles and jars
Did you know that every tonne of glass recycled into new bottles and jars saves the equivalent carbon dioxide to charging 74,000 smart phones? So don’t forget to recycle them over the Christmas period.
Batteries
600 million batteries are thrown away each year in the UK. If they are not disposed of correctly, they can cause fires and are a waste of precious metals. Most stores that sell batteries have a recycling point for them so look out for these in the supermarket or toy stores.
Use Recycle Now’s Recycling locator tool for more information.
Why not invest in some rechargeable batteries this Christmas? Although they can initially cost more, they can be used again and again.
Composting at Christmas
The vegetable peelings and egg shells from your Christmas dinner make excellent editions to any compost bin. If you have a real Christmas tree, you can also add it to your composting heap. Find out more about home composting here.
And Finally,
From the team here at Waste Less South Yorkshire, we wish you and your families a very happy Christmas and New Year and want to say a huge thank you for all your reducing, reusing and recycling efforts this year! It really does make a huge difference to our planet.
Remember! we will be posting Christmas tips all of December on our social media, so like and follow to stay up to date! #WasteLessXmas
More Christmas blogs to read