Do you feel just a little guilty about the mountains of wrapping paper abandoned in your home on Christmas Day each year?
Australians use more than 150,000km of wrapping paper during the festive season, CSIRO tells us. Here are some tips to help us all reduce waste this festive season.
To put that into perspective, 150,000km is nearly enough paper to wrap around Earth’s equator four times! It’s also estimated $900 billion worth of presents will go to waste.
Some of us like to comb through the Christmas Day mounds of discarded wrappings, saving larger pieces of paper and straightening out and rolling up the pretty ribbons ready to put away until next year.
But if that is not your thing, maybe you could use fabric to wrap gifts. A fresh new bath or tea towel is always welcome, so it makes an extra gift that will be used for years to come.
Alternatively, re-use paper or gift bags. Use stickers, old cards or wrapping paper to decorate them. If you have kids, you might use their drawings to wrap gifts for a unique and special touch.
Choose cloth ribbons to tie up packages, rather than the plastic-based varieties, and collect abandoned ribbons afterwards for re-use next year.
Consider giving gifts in glass, such as baked goods, homemade jams, oils or bath salts, to avoid wrapping altogether.
Gifting plants is another environmentally-friendly option, whether the recipient has a large garden or just a balcony. A food plant, such herbs or a tomato bush, will keep on giving throughout the summer – and maybe even the whole year round.
