Christmas always gets me thinking about how I can reduce my waste. For me, Christmas is a wonderful time of the year where I get to give with all my heart and with so much thought behind my gifts. As silly as this may sound, for me, when I give a Christmas present out, I feel like the world is a better place…just for that few minutes. The look of delight and happiness when they open their gift up. Just magical!
The other side to it though is there is so much waste…from food, to wrapping, to cards to Christmas trees to Christmas decorations. In my head I’m left thinking each and every year what is Mother Earth thinking about us now? We were gifted this beautiful planet, and we are just all destroying it without any fear, without any thought, without any consideration.
For a lot of us Christmas time is that one yearly opportunity that we get to come together and spend time with our loved ones. Christmas is always focused on the food and the gifts, which is wonderful. BUT there is always the potential of wasted food, unwanted presents, and a shit load of unnecessary packaging that is truly affecting our environment. I know, I sound like a Debbie Downer, but I really just want to make people, all of us, aware.
I understand that there is always going to be some form of food wastage. I mean how much can we eat? I grew up with a mum who over prepared for each and every occasion. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree as I am the exact same way. So, this year I menu planned, and I fine-tuned my menu plan. I calculated how many mouths we were to feed and came to the realisation that we didn’t need 3 cheesecakes, 10 salads, 2 charcuterie boards, 8 other desserts, 15 sides and so on. My brain has been programmed to over buy and over stock because the supermarkets are closed for ONE DAY!! I was gobsmacked when I read that each year Victorian households throw out approximately 250,000 tonnes of food! That is enough food to fill Melbourne’s Eureka Tower. Dear God! What are we doing?!$!?
Christmas trees. I would love nothing more than a fresh Australian Native Pine in my home, but I purchased a plastic (YELP) Christmas Tree some 4 years ago with the intention of using it year after year after year. Sadly, my Christmas tree is non-recyclable, non-degradable and it’s all plastic and metal. It won’t decompose ever. If I throw it out, then it’s only going to end up in landfill. So, I have decided to keep it and use it for as long as I am alive. There is no point in me ditching it now. For those lucky and smart people who have fresh trees each and every year your tree will be turned into mulch and then this mulch is used in agriculture, I would hazard a guess in saying that this mulch would most likely go back into our parklands and even sold back to the community to keep our home gardens healthy.
I think we all need to be mindful of wrapping paper and all that unnecessary packaging. In our home we use a lot of eco-friendly alternatives and more so fabric! I became obsessed with Furoshiki and Bojagi. (Japanese style of wrapping up gifts in fabric). It is a beautiful way to wrap up presents that really stand out and is oh so unique. I usually buy fabric scarves or tea towels or bed linen so that the receiver of my gift can re-use it.
I am one of those people that absolutely LOVES giving gift cards. This stops any unnecessary rubbish coming into people’s homes (mine included). In my home we have enough “things”, I honestly do not want or need any more “things”. When family and friends ask me what my son wants for Christmas and birthdays, I always state a gift card and I must admit it has rubbed people up the wrong way when I say so.
I prefer that my son goes out and buys what he really wants and needs with a gift card as opposed to rubbish piling up in his room and in our house, and in turn ending up in my rubbish then our eco-system. Funnily enough my son has learnt the value of the dollar with gift cards. Over the years it has taught him how to budget, what to shop for. Understanding needs versus wants.
Gifting or better yet sustainable gifting is the norm in our household. I always check where the product was made. What materials is the product made from. How is it packaged. This is MY way of taking sustainability that step further. When shopping/gifting from big brands I research is that brand committed to responsible practices? Is it made from recycled or biodegradable materials? Does this gift have a minimal negative environmental impact? And most importantly…shopping LOCALLY. Buy Australian made, buy from small businesses.
Clean up time in our home, not only post-Christmas lunch/dinner, is all about going green. We use only eco-friendly cleaning products, as well as natural cleaning products like white vinegar, bi carb soda, lemon/citrus, tea tree oils, lavender oils and so forth.
I am aware my footprint. I run our entire home with an iron fist. I run an eco-friendly kitchen to the best of my abilities. I am extremely passionate about reducing my waste, reusing what I can, and I recycle every single thing. I was “enlightened” when holidaying in Japan a few years ago and I was astounded by their methods of recycling. The Japanese KNOW how to recycle. Let’s take a plastic drink bottle. We throw the entire bottle into our recycling bin, right? The Japanese though they separate the bottle into three parts. The cap/lid. The film. The body, all before recycling. Three parts! They had the FIRST ever ZERO WASTE Village! I am green with envy!
The Japanese Recycling Culture have the most sophisticated recycling and waste management systems in the world! As well as Germany, but I can’t compare as I lasted visited Germany in my early 30’s.
I end this blog with… I wish nothing more than joy, happiness, and fun times with your loved ones this holiday season but let’s ALL try and actively reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as we can. Let’s all lighten our footprint on this beautiful earth!
Much love,
Irene
