Struggling to be sustainable over the festive period? Whether you want to avoid waste, give plastic the cold shoulder or just want to get a bit creative, we've put together a few top tips to make your Christmas even greener this year.
1. Choose a British-grown Christmas tree
As well as looking beautiful and smelling even better, British-grown Christmas trees are good for the planet and have a lower carbon footprint than most artificial trees. During the 8-10 years your British-grown Christmas tree will have taken to grow, it will have acted as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide, and releasing oxygen.
Check out our map to find your nearest Forestry England tree shop.
2. Consider a potted tree
Grown to between three and four feet tall, potted trees may be smaller than your typical Christmas tree but they can literally last a lifetime. Once they’ve been the focal point of your living room, potted trees make fantastic patio plants with a little love and care.
Or, if you have enough garden space, plant your tree to grow and thrive after Christmas – it’ll also help provide food for wildlife like siskins, who love to eat seeds from spruce trees.
3. Re-use Christmas decorations and avoid single-use ornaments
For many, unboxing and dusting off Christmas decorations marks the start of the Christmas period. It’s also a great time to get the whole family involved by making your own decorations.
If you want to top up your collection, choose sustainably sourced decorations and avoid lametta (single thread) tinsel which isn’t recyclable, can be difficult to remove from branches, and can pose a hazard to pets who might get tangled in it or swallow it. If you're feeling creative, why not try making your own?
4. Choose certified Christmas cards and wrapping paper
A sustainable Christmas doesn’t have to stop at your family’s tree. Many trees around the world go into making Christmassy products like wrapping paper and Christmas cards – a whopping 1 billion of which are sold in the UK each year.
Look for the FSC® or PEFC logos when you shop to know wood products come from well-managed forests and other controlled sources. Consider giving old magazines or newspaper a second life as Christmas wrapping paper too, and make sure to recycle everything you can when you’re done!
5. Recycle your tree
There’s nothing sadder than the sight of a real Christmas tree in a plastic bin bag on the curb, ready to go to landfill once January rolls around. After the last decoration has been taken down and thoughts of Christmas are just pleasant memories, visit your local authority website or Recycle Now to find out how to recycle your tree.
Many local authorities offer drop-off or curbside tree recycling services, so your tree can be put to good use by being chipped and used locally.
6. Give the gift of experience
We all love giving and receiving Christmas presents, but the sheer amount of 'stuff', often plastic, that we end up with post-Christmas can be a little overwhelming. This year, invest in gifts that are a little kinder to our planet.
Rather than something material, give the joy of making forest memories instead. Our Memberships provide a full year of outdoor adventures for the whole family to enjoy. Or, if you’re searching for an ideal gift for someone special, a Membership will give them time out to enjoy their favourite forest activities.
