Going Green - Recyclable Christmas Decorations
Thankfully we’re finally coming round to considering the environment in most things we do. A vast increase in recycling capabilities and eco-friendly packaging has seen a fantastic reduction in what heads to the landfill, but there are some things where we’re still a little behind. National holidays seem to be one of these occasions, when people like to relax and consider nothing but their friends and family, a bottle of wine and having a good time. One of the biggest guilty holidays is Christmas, when we all like to forget about the troubles of everybody outside of our festive circle. It’s not that we’re being selfish, we just feel like we’ve deserved some alone time and don’t want to have to sacrifice that. But having an eco-friendly December isn’t as obtrusive as most people think, a little forward thinking can make it all an enjoyable experience for both yourself, your family and the environment!
Real or Fake Christmas Tree
Fake Christmas trees are almost always made of some form of plastic or resin. Whilst these might benefit from being re-usable and might not find their way into the rubbish bin for 5 or 10 years, eventually they will have to go. Many people believe that the resources required to source live Christmas trees every year is more harmful to the environment than having one plastic tree every ten. It’s up for debate, but with Christmas being such an international sensation; most live Christmas trees are grown in purpose built farms and thus their felling and selling doesn’t impact natural forests or habitats.
Natural Decorations
Before the advent of man-made materials like plastic, Christmas decorations were all natural. This is evident in the artificial décor that we buy in from supermarkets, like fake berries, plastic segments of orange, resin ivy and mistletoe. Consider returning to the natural roots of Christmas by drying out fruit to use as hangings, nuts and pine cones are great and cinnamon sticks both look and smell great on your tree. Anything that naturally decomposes is great for keeping your Christmas eco-friendly.
Recycling
Of course, one of the most helpful things you can do for the environment is recycle as much of your waste as possible over December and January. A huge increase in our food and drink intake will result in a similarly drastic increase in the amount of packaging we find ourselves lumped with. A lot of local councils will offer extra pick-ups to encourage recycling over the festive period, so make sure you take advantage of it. Almost all modern Christmas cards are recyclable, along with a lot of wrapping paper and packaging for food. If you have a local timber yard, they might offer to recycle your tree into wood chips which can be used as mulch, a natural fertiliser, for your garden. Check with your local constituency where your nearest recycling centre for trees are and make sure you make use of it!
Start stocking up on your natural and eco-friendly decorations for Christmas today!