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On the JJ Barnes Blog, I share top tips to have an eco-friendly Christmas so we can enjoy the festive season while maintaining our environmentally friendly lifestyles.
Christmas is a time of joy, love, and giving. But with the holiday season often comes a surge in waste and environmental impact. In the UK alone, we generate a staggering 30% more waste than usual during this period, including millions of discarded turkeys and Christmas trees.
This year, let’s embrace a more sustainable approach to Christmas, ensuring we can enjoy the festivities without compromising our planet. Recycling plays a crucial role in managing this excess waste, helping to reduce the environmental impact of the holiday season. By recycling packaging, wrapping paper, and food waste, we can minimize landfill waste, conserve resources, and reduce pollution. Additionally, recycling can help to declutter homes and reduce post-Christmas stress, making the transition to the new year smoother.
With the help of Debra Hutt, kitchens expert at Wren Kitchens, I’ll share practical tips to have an eco-friendly Christmas, allowing you to celebrate responsibly and make a positive impact.
By following these tips, and reusing and recycling, families can celebrate more sustainably and reduce guilt over holiday waste, whilst doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint.
-Debra Hutt, kitchens expert at Wren Kitchens
Top Tips To Have An Eco-Friendly Christmas
1. Streamline Your Space with Integrated Waste Disposal
Integrating your rubbish and recycling bins in the kitchen offers a practical and aesthetically pleasing solution, especially during the hectic Christmas season. With increased food waste, packaging, and general clutter, concealed bins can help maintain a tidy and organized kitchen space.
By keeping unsightly waste bins out of sight, you can create a more inviting and stress-free environment, perfect for entertaining guests and enjoying festive meals.
Beyond aesthetics, concealed bins offer practical benefits. By containing food scraps and blocking unpleasant odors, they help prevent pests like flies and rodents from invading your kitchen. Additionally, integrating recycling bins into the same space simplifies waste sorting and promotes eco-friendly habits. During the Christmas rush, with increased packaging and wrapping paper to recycle, having a convenient and organized waste disposal system can significantly reduce clutter and stress.
This maintains the aesthetic of your kitchen, but it also helps to prevent pests like flies and rodents by containing food scraps, while also blocking unpleasant odours from spreading.
Integrating recycling bins in the same space also makes sorting waste easier and keeps the kitchen organised, particularly helpful during the Christmas rush with increased packaging and wrapping paper to recycle.
-Debra Hutt
2. Recycling drawers and dividers
Adding drawers or separate containers to your bin can significantly enhance the recycling process, making it easier and more efficient. By clearly separating materials like paper, plastic, glass, and metal, you encourage correct recycling practices.
When recycling is made simple and convenient, family members are more likely to participate consistently, contributing to a more sustainable household.
The specific configuration of your bin system can be tailored to your household’s waste generation patterns. For example, if your family produces a lot of food waste, you might consider adding a dedicated compost bin or food waste caddy. By customizing your bin system, you can optimize waste management and minimize your environmental impact.
This encourages correct recycling and when recycling is made easier, family members are more likely to participate consistently. Dividers or drawers in your bin system can be adjusted based on the type of waste your household generates most frequently.
-Debra Hutt
3. Repurposing and recycling Christmas decorations
Repurposing old Christmas decorations is a sustainable and creative way to add a personal touch to your festive decor. Each year, a staggering 12,500 tonnes of Christmas decorations are discarded in the UK alone, equivalent to the weight of the Eiffel Tower. By repurposing old ornaments, you can reduce waste and contribute to a greener Christmas.
Stringing together old ornaments into garlands or using them as centerpieces is a simple yet effective way to breathe new life into your decorations.
Natural elements like cinnamon sticks and dried citrus fruits can also be repurposed to create beautiful and fragrant displays. Arrange them in wine glasses, incorporate them into wreaths or garlands, or use them as accents in gift wrapping and place settings.
By embracing a sustainable approach to Christmas decorations, you can reduce your environmental impact while creating a warm and inviting atmosphere in your home.
String ornaments and baubles into garlands or use them as centrepieces to make the most of what you have. Repurposing natural elements like cinnamon sticks and dried citrus fruits is a fantastic way to bring a festive and aromatic touch to your Christmas décor. Arranging them in deep or round wine glasses can create simple yet elegant displays that feel both warm and organic. These pieces also add a beautiful, rustic charm when incorporated into wreaths, garlands, gift wrapping, or even place settings and cards.
-Debra Hutt
4. Food storage
Proper food storage is a cornerstone of sustainable living, especially during the festive season. By optimizing your storage techniques, you can significantly reduce food waste, save money, and enjoy a more eco-friendly Christmas.
One of the most effective ways to minimize waste is to maximize your fridge space. By ensuring adequate airflow between items, you can maintain optimal temperatures and prevent spoilage. Consider storing hardy vegetables like carrots and parsnips in cooler, darker areas to free up valuable fridge space.
Additionally, freezing pre-prepared dishes or a whole turkey before Christmas can alleviate fridge congestion. When defrosting a turkey, it’s essential to place it on a tray in the fridge to catch any drips and allow ample time for thawing—approximately 10-12 hours per kilogram.
To preserve the freshness of dry ingredients like flour, sugar, nuts, and dried fruits, store them in airtight containers. This simple step can significantly extend their shelf life, protecting them from moisture, pests, and spoilage.
By implementing these strategies, you can enjoy a more sustainable and waste-free Christmas while savoring the festive flavors.
Store dry Christmas ingredients like flour, sugar, nuts, and dried fruits in airtight containers to keep them fresh. Hardy vegetables like carrots and parsnips can be stored in cold outbuildings or cupboards to free up fridge space.
You can also freeze pre-prepared dishes or a turkey before Christmas to ease fridge space. Defrost the turkey in the fridge, using a container to catch drips to avoid cross-contamination and allow around 10-12 hours per kg of turkey to thaw completely.
-Debra Hutt
5. Recycling food waste
The festive season often leads to an abundance of food, much of which can be repurposed or recycled rather than discarded. By adopting a few simple strategies, you can reduce food waste and make the most of your culinary creations.
Any unused or unopened food items that are still within their sell-by date can be stored in the freezer for future use. This simple step can significantly extend the life of perishable foods and reduce food waste.
Food waste recycling is another effective way to minimize your environmental impact. Tea bags, coffee grounds, plate scrapings, meat and fish (both raw and cooked, including bones), fruits and vegetables (including peelings), and dairy products (except milk) can all be composted or added to your food waste bin to be converted into energy.
For bulkier items like vegetables or turkey, consider cooking them into hearty stews, soups, curries, stocks, or broths. These dishes can be enjoyed immediately or frozen for future meals. High-fat items like double cream and Christmas brandy butter also freeze well, making them perfect for future desserts or baking projects.
By adopting these simple practices, you can reduce food waste, save money, and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Recycling food waste is crucial; tea bags, coffee grounds, plate scrapings, meat and fish (raw and cooked, including bones), all fruit and vegetables (raw and cooked, including peelings), and dairy products like eggs and yogurt (except milk) can all go into your food waste bin to be converted into energy.
High-fat items like double cream and Christmas brandy butter freeze well. For bulkier items like vegetables or turkey, consider cooking them into stews, soups, curries, stocks, or broths to consume or freeze.
-Debra Hutt
Wren Kitchens
Wren Kitchens is the UK’s number one affordable luxury kitchen retailer, offering a wide range of affordable luxury fitted bedrooms too. Employing more than 7,000 people, last year alone they delivered more than 130,000 dream kitchens to homes across the UK. From their 110 UK and 13 US family friendly, VR equipped showrooms, Wren is committed to providing affordable luxury, high-quality design solutions and market leading finance options to ensure their dream kitchens and bedrooms are available to more people than ever before. With a strong focus on innovation, customer experience and affordability, Wren Kitchens continues to elevate homes across the UK
Sources:
1. TikTok data, correct as of 15.10.2024
2. https://www.gwp.co.uk/guides/christmas-packaging-facts/
3. Searches correct as of 21.10.2024, according to Google Keyword Planner
4. https://phswastekit.co.uk/blog/posts/20-11-2018/how-much-waste-does-the-festive-season-create
5. https://www.mattressonline.co.uk/blog/family/christmas-waste-unwrapped/
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