How to Recycle Your Cards, Decs & Presents After Christmas

The need to make a bigger effort to combat the climate change crisis is more urgent than ever and as well as businesses taking more responsibility for protecting the environment, households have a big job to do too.

Recycling and reusing items at Christmas might feel like a small action to take but if everyone around the world recycled more and switched to more green options, we would see a significant impact.

Over the festive period, there is more packaging from parcels, food, drinks, and gift purchases and many households will put more rubbish into general waste than they usually would, meaning that there is considerably more going into landfills.

Therefore, Christmas is a very good time to make some changes that will help the environment, such as recycling and ensuring food and gifts do not go to waste. Here are some of the ways you can have an eco-friendlier Christmas:

Make good use of unwanted gifts

Rather than throwing out unwanted gifts or taking up space by storing them, you could donate them to a charity and help raise money for a good cause. You might also be able to re-gift some items to people that will be able to make use of them.

Recycle or re-purpose Christmas cards

Most cards are made from paper which makes it simple to recycle them, but you could also find another use for them before they get recycled. If you cut up cards, they can make great gift tags to put onto Christmas presents.

Get creative with food leftovers

The idea of eating turkey sandwiches for days does not appeal to everyone and if you have surplus vegetables, they do not tend to go too well with sandwiches. A more creative and tastier way of making sure your food does not go to waste is to make dishes such as bubble and squeak or soup from the leftovers. Here is a really super easy recipe to follow for that perfect Boxing day soup! 

Re-use decorations

When you look after your decorations and pack them away carefully after Christmas, they should last you for years. If Christmas tree lights break you should not send them to landfills, any items with batteries or a plug should be recycled at a household waste recycling centre.

Recycle or re-use your tree

If you buy a real Christmas tree, you can arrange for the local council to collect it for recycling. Around 160,000 tonnes of trees get dumped in Britain each year, leaving a major carbon footprint. You might be able to re-use your tree by cutting it up to use as firewood and using the needles as mulch for your garden.

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