How to host a sustainable Christmas

Fairy lights are up! Trees decorated with sparkly ornaments! Yes, it is officially Christmas season! 

It is so easy to be swept away by all the festivities and get coerced into all the consumer hype, there is a way to be swept away with all the glamour and glitter and still make sustainable choices this Christmas. 

So here are some tips from us at Green Connect to play our part in not clogging up our beautiful oceans and killing our wildlife – we are battling with all the bushfires already. 

Let’s celebrate a truly green Christmas with sustainable and plastic-free options!

Decorations are so much fun! By now most will already have their Christmas Trees set up. How cozy! Just remember:

• Turn lights off when they are not needed
• Use LED lights that are powered by solar power or are rechargeable

Are you getting into the gift wrapping? Let’s wrap gifts thoughtfully this year:

• Check out out our blog about ‘The Best Christmas Gift Ideas’ – buy local and second hand, buy less or donate
• Send e-cards or make your own gift cards
• Use paper bags, kids paintings, recycled paper, newspapers, magazines and fabrics or even tote bags to wrap the presents
• Buy wrapping paper at an op-shop in your local area

Do you love setting the Christmas Table?

We at Green Connect certainly care about sustainable, plastic-free and ethical ways of setting the Christmas Table. Here are some of our ideas for you:

• Use Bamboo or Stainless Steel cutlery e.g. with Shop Naturally – it’s plastic and BPA free
• Mix and match unique kitchenware from op-shops, ethical stores and online market places such as Gum Tree and local Facebook Groups
• Use native plants and flowers as centrepieces
• Decorate using flowers such as lavender and/or edible fruit – this is truly zero waste as you and your guest will be able to munch on the decoration

But what about the Christmas lunch or dinner as such?

Well, we all love a hearty meal, but it’s important to not waste all those leftovers and buy ethically!

• Choose some more vegetable options
• Defrost your freezer it will work more efficiently and create more space to store leftover food.
• Source sustainable food options Food Fairness Illawarra have a great list of buying sustainable in the Wollongong Area right here. It’s worth checking out!
• Get everyone involved and bake your own Christmas snacks and edibles (Inspirations here)
• Ask your guest to bring reusable containers to take home some leftovers, so you won’t be stuck with all the delicious food on your own 🙂
• Or if still too much food is left over donating the food to organisations such as Foodbank, OzHarvest 
• Compost your food scraps – hey, this even works without having a big backyard. Check out this article for inspiration.

We hope we have inspired you with some ideas. But we know that so many of you have so much experience in making this world a better place as well, so would you share some of your ideas with us? 

We love to learn with and from you!

Merry Christmas & let the festivities begin!