It’s instructive watching different generations unwrap presents at Christmas. People born during the 1940s tend to do it slowly and deliberately. People born later like to rip the paper off and get to the present inside without delay.
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This was explained by a “war baby”, who said during times of great shortage every effort was made to reuse and recycle consumables, including wrapping paper. In the UK, wartime rationing continued well into the 1950s.
“We’d go to great pains to unwrap gifts carefully and keep the paper and ribbon for next Christmas. We’d even iron it to remove the crinkles,” she said.
Fast-forward to the 21st century and we’re still recycling and reusing but for very different reasons. It’s not shortage we’re concerned about but the environment. The growing realisation our habitat is not infinite motivates many of us to be mindful of the waste we generate and to find ways to reduce it.
The consensus is that households generate about 25 per cent more waste during the Christmas holiday period. We tend to over-cater with food and drink and we generate a mountain of paper with cards and gift-wrapping.
With a little forethought and planning, we can all cut down on the waste we generate.
The easiest step we can take is to ensure the paper, glass, PET, steel etc. goes into the recycling and not landfill.
Under countless Christmas trees will be electronic devices replacing old ones. Recycling the old phones and computers and monitors, which are full of precious metals and rare earths, will help the environment and free up that draw that’s been acting as a phone museum for several years now.
Most post offices have Planet Ark boxes which take old electronic devices and council tips also take paper, cardboard and electronic or e-waste.
At the supermarket, we can aim to buy food that is not parcelled up in superfluous packaging and we can plan ahead so we don’t buy too much.
The amount of food binned at Christmas is enough to give you indigestion. It’s a large serve of the estimated $9.6 billion worth chucked every year.
Where possible, composting as much kitchen waste as possible will help reduce our need for landfill. It will also help our gardens.
But buying what you actually need is doubtless the better course of action.
