Top tips for a green Christmas | Latest news and updates

Save money and reduce waste when you make planet-friendly choices this Christmas! Every family has their own traditions and ways of making Christmas feel special.

Take a look at these tips and see if you can make any of them part of your plans for 2025:

Gifts

• Ask for a Christmas list. Father Christmas isn't the only one who can plan ahead to give things that are wanted and will be long-lasting. 
• Considered buying second hand or re-gifting. You can find amazing bargains in charity shops and online options like ebay and Facebook Marketplace. Pre-loved gifts will make your money stretch and are a great way to avoid things ending up in the bin.
•  Try making some small presents at home. This blogger talks about how they made more than 40 gifts for less than £30 last Christmas. The BBC has some easy recipes for edible gifts you can make with the kids . County Living has also got a great list of crafty ideas.

 

Food 

• Ditch the clingfilm . Use plastic food containers saved after takeaways, aluminium foil, or beeswax wraps to keep leftovers fresh If you're visiting friends or family, take some containers with you so you can take some leftovers home with you.
• Freeze to save leftovers for later. Label up food containers with what's inside and the date they were frozen.
• Think about packaging. Can you buy loose vegetables instead of pre-packed bags of them?
• Give to others . If you've been given chocolate, biscuits or any other type of sealed food, that you don't like. Give them to someone else while they are still in date, you could even donate them to your local food bank.

 

Wrapping and packaging

• DIY gift tags . Cut up old Christmas cards to make gift tags.
• Make your own wrapping paper . Try brown paper or old newspaper for wrapping presents is cheaper, better for the environment. You can also spend an afternoon with the kids decorating the paper with drawings, paintings or sponge stamps.
• Check your paper . If you're sticking with traditional Christmas paper, remember to look for recycled or FSC-certified paper.  without any foiling that passes the 'scrunch test', which means it can be recycled again.
• Avoid plastic ribbon and sticky tape . Choose recyclable options instead, like paper and gum tapes.  
• Reuse. Save the ribbons and decorations from old gifts to reuse in your wrapping.