Green Christmas at WONDA

Christmas is around the corner and isn’t Christmas about giving something back? Since Christmas has a fatalistic impact on our environment, why not give something back to our planet and celebrate a green Christmas this year?

Let’s not cause huge quantities of wrapping paper waste considering it’s single use. Let’s not throw away tons of food, because of a lack in meal planning or storage issues. Let’s not buy an artificial Christmas tree, because we think the carbon emissions are lower than getting a real one. They’re not. Let’s not purchase new Christmas decoration items, because we got tired of the ones from last year. Let’s not gift unwanted presents, which end up in the farthest corner of the cupboard or – even worse – become garbage. 

Let’s do better.

A massive ongoing waste generation worldwide is undisputable and there are no signs for it slow down. On the contrary, the overall estimated amount of municipal solid waste will reach 3.4 billion metric tons in 2050, which would represent an increase of 70% according to a prognosis from statista. However, during Christmas season consumption and a resulting waste generation reaches it’s peak.

ABOUT SUSTAINABLE WRAPPING ALTERNATIVES

For instance, producing 1kg of wrapping paper takes 50 liters of water and 5 kilowatt hours of energy. According to this roughly 435 million liters of water and 43,5 million kilowatt hours of energy are consumed. This equals approx. the annual energy demand of a small town with 12.500 inhabitants. Aren’t those numbers shocking? But – no worries – I’ve got good news for you: we can do something about it.

In the first place, switch to recycled wrapping paper. There are lots of beautiful designs! Producing recycled paper takes half as much energy and only a third of the amount of water.

Consider wrapping up your presents in magazine or book papers. Your present will definitely stand out this way!

Upcycle (brown) paper bags or spare craft paper and paint it yourself for an individual touch. This way you can also include nice illustrations!

Buy vouchers of your favorite restaurant, café, cinema or clothing brand. Thereby you support your locals, avoid a bad buy and you won’t need to make use of any wrapping paper at all.

You even have some fabric leftovers? Great! Why not reuse them as attractive wrappings?

ABOUT A LOW WASTE CHRISTMAS FEAST

Let’s talk about Christmas dinner, which for most people is the favorite part during the festive days. Sole in Germany the food industry, retailers, distributors and private households dispose 12 million tons of food waste every single year. Private households account for a whole 55% of it, which results in 82 kg food waste annually per person. In Europe a total of 80 million tons of food waste arises per year. Wasted and lost food along the supply chain account for a 10^th of all our greenhouse gas emissions. However, a big part of the primarily presumed waste is still edible at the moment of it’s disposal. Hence we came up with some suggestions in order to do our part in minimizing those numbers and to help you reduce food waste this Christmas. 

Lots of supermarkets are likely to use discounts during the festive season in order to maximize their selling volume. Give it a thought and weigh up if you truly need those discounted food items or if it’s just for the sake of getting a discount.

Involve family and guests in the meal planning and start on time. This way there won’t be unwanted food options and intolerances are considered, as well as other food remainings are spared.

Organize your fridge before going Christmas shopping and check out Respect Food’s manual in order to use your fridge more efficiently.

If you choose to cook without recipes, make use of an online food planer such as Eat Smater, which calculates portion-wise.

Buy regional and seasonal food, in order to keep transport ways as short as possible and CO2 emissions accordingly low. You can look up the seasons of various food types in online season calendars.

In case leftovers arise anyways, save them from going to waste by freezing them. You can easily look up how to store them correctly and for how long. Still Tasty shows you what has to be considered.

There are also lots of ways to reuse leftovers for distinct recipes. This guide from FOODAL provides you with some ideas regardingly.

ABOUT ECOLOGICAL CHRISTMAS TREE OPTIONS

And what about a nice-looking Christmas tree? Wouldn’t it be more eco-friendly to get an artificial one? The answer is no. A real conventional Christmas tree of 2 meters actually has a comparable low carbon footprint with 16kg CO2e, if disposed of in a landfill. However, if you dispose of the tree in a proper way by burning it on a bonfire, planting it or having it chipped, the CO2 emissions total sole 3.5kg. Meanwhile, a same size artificial tree, which usually consists in PVC and metal, accounts for a whole 40kg CO2e. Owed to the energy-intensive production processes involved, the CO2 emissions are approx. 10 times higher than a properly  disposed of real one. Also the the process of growing a Christmas tree to optimum height takes around 8 to 10 years in which oxygen is produced and is replaced with a new seedling after deforestation.

Thus, when purchasing your Christmas tree pay attention that it is locally sourced and grown in order to ensure a shorter transport distance and support your local business owners.

Also you can buy a potted Christmas tree in order to reuse it the year(s) after. This isn’t only cost-efficient but also extremely eco-friendly.

Meanwhile there are various local services, which offer a Christmas tree rental during the season.

Regarding it’s disposal, check out Christmas tree collection services. They pick up the trees and recycle them, which leads to new production since it is a renewable resource.

ABOUT ECO-FRIENDLY GIFTGIVING

What would Christmas be without presents? Yes, we all love to give and receive presents underneath the Christmas tree. But what about all the gifts that are unwanted or simply not used? Sadly, surveys state that more than 50% of the respondents receive unwanted gifts on Christmas.

So if you go Christmas shopping, why not get a voucher? This way the recipient can freely choose the product, color, size and style that suits her best. Especially these days a lot of business owners are more than thankful, if you support them by getting vouchers.

In case you have no slightest clue on what to gift, don’t speculate and end up with a bad buy. Rather ask the person directly, cause they know best what brings them joy and – let’s be honest – we always have some ideas in mind.

Make use of your creative streak and handcraft something yourself. Good Housekeeping provides you with some great DIY projects, such as Christmas cutout candles, filled glass ornaments or lavender sachets.

If you receive unwanted gifts anyways, there are options to reintegrated them into the cycle by returning it, swapping it, donating it or trading it. Have a look at this guide for more ideas.

Still in need of some eco-friendly gift ideas? Here you go!