Christmas is just around the corner and as exciting as that is, sadly the season can have a massive impact on our beautiful planet. Aside from choosing Vegums as a delicious alternative to powdery pills or chalky chewables, we thought we’d give you a few other easy eco-friendly Christmas tips on how to stay vigilant and let the sea life enjoy the season too.
1. Play your cards right:
Try to buy (or make!) recycled/recyclable cards that aren’t covered in glitter (see point 7) and don’t come in plastic packets. Visiting a Christmas market and supporting local artists or independents is a great way to tick a lot of boxes, but recycled cards on non-coated paper are available in shops or online. Or, why not be a true millennial and send an e-card!
2. Don’t wrap in a flap:
Shiny and glittery wrapping paper isn’t recyclable and can contaminate entire loads if recycled incorrectly, meaning that it all ends up in landfill. Why not give your bank account a break too and opt for some aesthetically pleasing brown paper (nostalgic potato-printing with vegetable-based ink optional), or edgy newspaper? And if you want to make Maria von Trapp the happiest woman in the world, swap ribbon for raffia or reusable string.
3. Gift green:
This eco-friendly Christmas tip is for the disorganised readers… If you’re STILL stuck for present ideas, you could give plastic replacements such as bottles, metal/bamboo straws, cutlery sets, storage jars, sandwich wraps, coffee cups and more. If you’re feeling creative, then the personal touch that comes with homemade gifts like jewellery, biscuits or truffles means that they always go down a treat too.
4. Cut the cutlery:
Christmas parties are a nightmare when it comes to disposable cutlery, plates and napkins and nobody’s thinking about sorting rubbish into recycling once they’re a few mulled wines deep. Earn some kudos from your colleagues and distant cousins by ordering proper crockery or offering to do the washing up. Or round everyone up and get a production line going – there’s no better motivator than Shakin’ Stevens!
5. Swap your shop:
Head to a green grocer armed with reusable bags to buy some plastic-free loose produce that won’t have travelled as far as Santa’s sleigh to get to your table. It’s important to support independent businesses over Christmas too! Plan ahead and try to make as much as you can from scratch, like nibbles and mince pies (easier than you might think) to avoid those pesky coloured plastic trays.
6. DIY decorations:
Rather than cluttering up the attic as well as the ocean, try foraging for decorations or making your own instead of using baubles and tinsel. You could hang up gingerbread cookies or paper snowflakes, dot the tree with berries and pine cones, and use sprigs of holly as place settings. The possibilities are endless! If you’re going for a plastic tree then reuse it for as long as possible, and if you’re going for the real deal then make sure you source it sustainably and contact your local council to find out how to dispose of it properly.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
7. Make glitter a goner:
We’ve all heard of microplastics and microfibres, and glitter is yet another tiny terror that can end up in our oceans. We don’t want to be a complete Grinch, so here are a few links to some biodegradable and vegan options so that you can turn cards (or your faces) into glitter-bombs to your hearts’ content:
- ASOS (via EcoStardust)
- Amazon
- Eco Glitter Fun
We hope these 7 eco-friendly Christmas tips will help you to enjoy the season with a clean conscience, it’d be great if you could share it with friends and family too! It might even encourage people to start Veganuary (Vegumuary? We’ll show ourselves out…) a few days early.
If you’ve got time, please follow this link and sign Greenpeace’s petition to get UK supermarkets to ditch single-use plastic. Every little helps so keep up the good work, but businesses and corporations need to get involved to really pack a punch!
If you’ve got anything to add to help each other out, then we’d love it if you signed in and left a comment below. Thank you for all your support so far, we really appreciate each and every purchase, subscription, share, follow, and like!
Happy Holidays from all of us here at Vegums!
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