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Celebrating Christmas sustainably!

Posted on 13 December 2025 by Andrea

Christmas is a wonderful time of year for lots of people, with lights, food, colours and company. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most wasteful and financially draining times of year.

In this blog post, media volunteer Rachel will look at the areas where we are wasting the most money and resources, and to offer a few ideas for how we can make improvements making Christmas a more sustainable and less stressful time for everyone. She will talk about gift ideas, homemade crafts and decorations as well as planet friendly food and drink options and experiences that don’t away any of the magic from the festive period.

Where are we wasting our money and resources?

Wrapping paper! – 227,000 miles of Christmas wrapping paper is thrown away every year in the UK – a similar distance from the earth to the moon! Most of the season’s shiny and glittery wrapping paper is NOT recyclable. In the UK, we throw away huge amounts of the stuff every year. If you add in the impact, ribbons, bows, and cello tape, the packaging waste alone is massive.

Food waste – how many people go overboard on the Christmas food shop while they fight over the last pack of sage and onion stuffing? A lot. People are buying in bulk amounts they won’t even be able to eat, ending up in the bin. This is one of the most environmentally damaging forms of resource waste because of the water, energy, and transport required to get the food from the source/farm to supermarket shelves. According to Waste Direct, “each family wastes an average of £60 worth of food over the Christmas period each year”. That’s enough for my weekly food shop, never mind for one day of the year.

Unwanted gifts – Now this one is touchy; nobody wants to appear to be ungrateful. Understandable, of course. Yet, there is a major issue today with people buying gifts and presents for the sake of it or just as a gesture. No matter how good the intentions are, the reality is that many gifts people receive every year end up either in the back of a cupboard, unused for years, given away or thrown out. An article from the Waste Team states, “£4 billion is spent on unwanted gifts, which is over 60 million unwanted gifts inevitably going to landfill.” This is an obvious waste of money that could we can avoid by making a few more creative and conscious choices.

Buying cheap plastic decorations every year – Don’t get me wrong, we have all bought the odd quirky plastic bauble or Christmas decoration at some point. What I’m talking about is the unrealistic need to change your “Christmas colour scheme” every single year to keep up with trends. This would also include buying a new artificial Christmas tree more than every 10 years or failing to properly recycle real trees, both of which contribute to CO2 emissions.

In short, the most waste at Christmas comes from overbuying and overconsumption. This can diminish the true value of Christmas, rather than enhancing it, by turning it into a commercial event rather than a thoughtful, loving time spent with loved ones.

Greener Christmas: Quick fixes!

Making even a couple of fast and easy swaps can make all the difference to the planet and your pocket. Some easy and savvy changes we can start putting in place are…

Replace non-recyclable wrapping paper – Use newspapers or brown paper and avoid the glitter and shiny options. I personally think nothing feels cosier and more special than a brown paper-wrapped gift.
Buy gifts second-hand -There is something so special about finding the perfect gift second-hand that makes you think of a loved one rather than the mad rush in the shopping centre to get something that “will do”.
Keep gift bags and reuse them! – This just makes sense and saves a lot of money.
Bring your own bags – Take your reusable bags the shop to reduce single-use plastics.
Shop local first – Before hitting the supermarkets, try farm shops, and small businesses, as they usually use less packaging and cut out some of the transport emissions for your carbon footprint.
Ask people what they would like! – An easy way to waste less money is to buy people gifts they want, so they will get use out of them and avoid novelty gifts.
Reasonable portions – Think about the number of people you will be feeding, more than trying to create a feast that ends up going to waste.
Go for Homemade- Rather than buying boxes of biscuits and sweets, try making your own. Add a personal touch by baking and getting creative yourself.
Put the lights and decorations on a timer – Save on the energy bills and usage.

The gift of memories

One of the best and most sustainable gifts you can get somebody is an experience. Whether that be to gain a new skill or a hobby you are giving them the gift of memories.

Some benefits of experience gifts are no clutter, a low carbon footprint, being great for all ages, and being more personal.

Here at Greener Kirkcaldy, we offer a brilliant range of experiences you can buy gift cards for. From cooking classes and crafts to days out and upskilling.

A nice idea, if money is very tight, is to make homemade experience gift cards. For example, a home-cooked meal, babysitting tokens or an at-home movie night.