Waste not want not

19th December 2014

Day 11 of EAUC Sustainable Christmas is Resource Efficiency and Waste

Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year, but it is also the most wasteful. Edie has collected together 12 sustainability waste related facts to inspire a greener Christmas this year. We've added some tips so your items don't contribute to these figures! View their full post here

According to WRAP estimates, the amount of wrapping paper thrown away in the UK at Christmas time would stretch to the moon. Added to the one billion cards and enough tin foil to cover the county of Suffolk, not to mention the shocking amount of food that gets sent to landfill, results in a very unsustainable Christmas.

The following items and quantities will be wasted this year:

• 277,000 miles of wrapping paper - reuse last year's paper scraps

• 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging - avoid gifts with excessive packaging or recycle!

• 5 million Christmas puddings - only buy what you need!

• 2 million turkeys - food waste recycling or turn into soup, stock or the famous turkey curry!

• 1 billion Christmas cards - recycle or turn into gift tags for next year

• 74 million mince pies - donate the pies you don't need

• 250 tonnes of Christmas trees - recycle! You may receive a leaflet from your council, find an information sticker on your bin or see an advert in your local paper detailing when the 'special collection' will take place.

• 13,350 tonnes of waste glass - recycle

• 500 tonnes of Christmas tree lights - recycle as they are accepted at household waste recycling centres

• 4,500 tonnes of silver foil - 14 Little-Known Ways To Reuse Aluminum Foil

• 16 million crackers - recycle the card stock


Will you be using these tips this Christmas or do you have any of your own? Head on over to Facebook to weigh in!

Resource efficiency and waste is a Framework within Learning in Future Environments (LiFE)
> Check out more resources on 'Resource efficiency and waste' on the Sustainability Exchange