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Did you know that we generate 30% more rubbish at Christmas than we do at any other time of the year? We find that disturbing, to say the least. However, it’s seemingly become a normal part of the festive holiday.
Let’s take a look at this epidemic of waste and identify some measures that we can take to change our ways.
How much food is wasted in the UK at Christmas?
A pretty shocking amount of food is wasted over the Christmas period. More than one in seven British people buy more food than they need to celebrate the festive season. Roughly 66% of us admit that the food we don’t eat winds up going in the bin.
The scary thing about this is that the amount of food we throw in the bin equals roughly 42 million dishes worth of Christmas food.
How much plastic is wasted in the UK at Christmas?
So, we took a look at how much plastic was thrown away in the UK at Christmas every year. It’s not great. We use 35,877 tons of plastic every year. That’s not even counting the excess of more than 338,000 tons of cardboard, 269,000 miles wrapping paper, and more than 1.3 billion greeting cards.
What items are wasted most?
When looking at the items that are wasted most, a few culprits start to come out of the woodwork. Paper, cardboard, plastic and food are all the usual suspects, but let’s remember, it’s not their fault. We all need to take responsibility for the way in which we discard our waste.
What items can’t be recycled?
Unfortunately, there are also plenty of items which cannot be recycled properly. Tape, glitter, glue and other materials like this can’t be recycled. We can avoid them by investing in sustainable, biodegradable wrapping materials from eco-friendly brands. There’s plenty of choices out there.
How to cut waste this Christmas
If you want to cut waste over the Christmas period, there are quite a few things you can do.
- Rather than purchasing something from a shop, make or bake a Christmas gift. It will still be just as meaningful (sometimes even more so), but much more eco-friendly.
- Recycle plastic as much as you can. Our recycling storage waste bins can help a lot with this!
- Make sure that you purchase a proportionate amount of food for your Christmas dinner. There’s no point buying too much!
It’s not all doom and gloom. There are plenty of things you can do to make sustainable changes over the Christmas period. Be very deliberate in the way you purchase things and be mindful of how you wrap your presents. It does make a big difference if you stop and think!