The holiday season is a time to be celebrated with family and friends, but it often results in an occasion of excess plastic and uncontrolled consumption. It doesn’t have to be this way though, and there are so many creative ways to reduce unnecessary waste by creating your own Christmas decorations through reuse and recycling!
Get creative with your decorations
It wouldn’t be the holiday season without some festive decorations, but you don’t have to buy new tinsel and baubles every year! One of our most popular guides for the creative Christmas fan is our Festive Recycled Arts and Crafts Guide to making upcycled decorations. It’s a great excuse to have fun, keep the kids busy and reduce your household’s holiday waste.
Cards from waste
One way to reduce your paper and cardboard waste is to turn it into upcycled gift cards for your loved ones. You can repurpose last year’s cards and decorations into something still in the festive theme or use old magazines and everyday materials lying around the house to make something funky, fun and individual. Check out Planet Ark ambassador, rocket scientist and zero waste warrior Anita Vandyke’s range of tips on zero waste wrapping for more ideas.
Credit: Anita Vandyke
Giving the gift of creation
Another great gift is the gift of how to make things. Planet Ark ambassador and author of A Zero Waste Life Anita Vandyke has many zero waste ideas available on her blog, here’s just a few of her innovative suggestions:
- Create custom recipe cards for your favourite low-waste meals like strawberry and coconut yogurt parfait.
- Create sustainable cleaning products for friends and family, or even better give them the ingredients and instructions so they can do it themselves!
- Encourage your friends and family to grow their own food by gifting them some old jars and containers to grow fruits and vegetables from the ‘ends’ that would normally go into landfill.
- Check out 5 things you can create from your holiday waste or how to make your own personalised Christmas hamper.
Credit: Anita Vandyke
