With Christmas being only a short few weeks away we are here to help you have a more sustainable and ECO-friendly Christmas, by both cutting down on costs and saving the planet at the same time!!

Here are some of our tips on what you can do differently this year;

1. Buy a real Christmas Tree

Studies have shown that real Christmas trees generate less greenhouse gas emissions than artificial trees each festive season. We encourage you to buy a real tree from your local producers that have dedicated nearly 10 years to produce a good quality tree. Irish growers produce around 650,000 Christmas trees each year with 450,000 sold at home and about 200,000 exported abroad, mainly to the UK, France and Germany. The industry contributes €25 million to the Irish economy. We regularly conduct free Christmas tree drop off days in early January. Keep an eye on our socials for locations local to you! 

2. Gift Sustainably

Packaging is one of the largest culprits at Christmas time for unnecessary waste. Plain wrapping paper, without glitter or vinyl, is recognised as recyclable and is acceptable in your household bin. It is important however to ensure all tags, bows and sellotape is removed! Also, some gifts don’t need wrapping, priceless gifts can also come in the forms of experiences! When buying presents, try and buy products with little to none, extra packaging. Remember to buy local and buy Irish!

3. Christmas food 

Choosing and buying more sustainable Christmas food is a good first step to trimming your carbon footprint. A third of what we buy is wasted.  Every Irish family throws away €700 worth of good food each year. If you can’t eat it, freeze it, or better yet, use your compost bin. This option demonstrates a full circle recycling process as your compost waste becomes a Department of Agriculture approved compost in just 12 weeks! 

4. Christmas Crackers

Millions of Christmas crackers are pulled each year and go in the bin after being used only for a few hours. Crackers are full of single used plastics that will have no purpose and will be struggled to be recycled correctly. Avoid them where possible or find a reusable option – invest in a good joke book that will last you for years to come!

To find out more on how to reduce your carbon footprint this festive season, visit the link here mywaste.ie