Have you ever thought about how much waste there is around Christmas? With wrapping paper, plastic packaging, food waste it all adds up, how many times do you have bags next to your wheely bins once the New Year arrives? I know I used to have at least two extra bags of rubbish.

So how can you reduce your waste, and me more eco friendly this Christmas?

Gifts

Quality over quantity, if your have children then you’ll know they always want everything, that’s fair enough, but you can buy better, try switching from plastic to wooden toys and make sure these toys are going to last. For me there is nothing worse than having a New Year Clean at the end of January to find toys that they got for Christmas broken.

Shop Small

Support a small business, these big corporations are all well and good and pretty convenient, but not so eco friendly. So why not support a few small businesses this year. You will probably also find more unique gifts for your loved ones.

Recycle

Recyclable wrapping paper, this one is pretty straight forward. However did you know that a lot of wrapping paper including foil paper and some printed paper cannot be recycled. Why? mainly down to how much print is on the wrapping paper, its hard to bleach it at the recycling centres to make it ready for reusing.

This year I am using brown paper to wrap gifts in, and I will get my little ones to do some drawings and stamping on the paper. I will probably also secure the paper with twine and a nice label!

Food waste

Now, don’t get me wrong here I love Christmas time and I love being able to eat lots of lovely things. But it’s easy to go overboard and buy too much. My advice to you would be to set a budget and don’t go over it. Also check your use by dates on every thing, write it on a calendar, that way it’s less likely to sit at the back of your fridge going off. You can also freeze some things and get them out as and when you want them, just make sure you check the freezing requirements before you do so!

Lasting decorations

Buy decorations that will last over the years, use them as memories that people will ask about. You could even try making your own decorations!

Get chatting

Ask your loved ones, what they need, what they wouldn’t want to receive to reduce unwanted presents (which will help keep the surprise).

You could also try and get your friends and family on board with having a more eco friendly Christmas.

If you’d like anymore Christmas ideas head over to my Instagram and check out my highlights! @the_munchkins_and_me

Speaking of Christmas, have your read my Must watch family friendly films post yet?