Helpful hints to reduce your waste this Christmas

Published: Tuesday, 19 December 2017 at 12:00:00 AM

Helpful hints to reduce your waste this Christmas.

We all tend to over spend at Christmas, buying extra food just in case we have family or friends visit.

Here are some suggestions that may help you reduce your waste this Christmas .

Festive Food – Hints for preparing Christmas food and menu planning

Plan your meals ahead, prepare a menu, be organised Serve smaller portion sizes, there is way too much delicious food served at  Christmas Write a shopping list, stick to the list, shop just for these items Clean and sort out your fridge & freezer before going out food shopping, dispose of any out of date items Use reusable bags – keep them handy in your car Be creative, use your left overs, for recipe ideas check out websites like

Taste – Christmas Leftovers http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/christmas-leftovers

 or Jamie Oliver  Christmas Leftover recipes https://www.jamieoliver.com/christmas/collection/leftovers/

 Helpful hints  – don’t waste food scraps – place them in a compost bin or worm farm, your scraps will be back feeding your garden and reducing water in no time

Use your yellow lid recycling bin for all the bottles and cans. Most food and drink packaging including bottles, jars, cans, lids, cardboard boxes, and cartons can be recycled.

Remember to give bottles, jars and tins a quick rinse before placing loosely in the yellow lid  recycling bin

Avoid plastic plates, cups and straws these take hundreds of years to breakdown and contain toxins

Store your left overs in contains instead of plastic wrap or alfoil

What about after Christmas?

What to do with all the cards, wrapping paper and packaging

Christmas tree recycling

This year why not get a living Christmas tree or a potted Christmas tree that you can replant

 After Christmas you can cut your tree into small pieces for your composting system.

 If you have an artificial tree make sure you buy a good quality tree that will last you for many Christmases.

Christmas wrapping paper

 Reuse the good quality wrap if you can, reuse the gift paper, gift tags, ribbon and bags.  

Other wrapping paper and cardboard boxes can be placed in the  yellow lid recycling bin or  store to be reused another time.

Christmas cards

Donate cards to a local childcare centre or schools to use for craft materials

Next year send Christmas E Cards via email or a family of photo card that can be kept as a keepsake

Gifts and other practical ideas

Less is more, give a practical gift such as an experience like tickets to a concert or movie, a gift voucher or something that you have made yourself

 Maybe buy a vintage or second hand gift, a recycled gift or pre loved gift

Shop for products that support environmental sustainability – look for practical, quality items that will last a long time

Unwanted gifts- Sell or donate them to a charity rather than throwing them away

Save energy – turn off the lights during the day

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