Plan a more sustainable Christmas

A Christmas dinner table surrounded by people serving themselves

Christmas is a special time of year, but it also creates a lot of waste. In fact, the amount of waste we produce increases by 30% around the holiday season.

Australians use more than 150,000 km of wrapping paper every Christmas and more than 25 per cent of the food we buy during the festive season goes to waste. Not to mention all those unwanted gifts!

The good news is that there are lots of things we can do to make Christmas more environmentally friendly. Here are our tips to help you plan a more sustainable Christmas this year.

Gifts

  • Give experiences, not things – for example event or cinema tickets, zoo passes or gallery membership
  • Vouchers and gift cards mean the recipient can get exactly what they want
  • Look for treasures and hard-to-find items secondhand
  • Pay for a subscription you know they’ll use, like a fruit box, or a club or gym membership
  • If buying new, focus on quality and look for gifts that use less packaging.

Wrapping

  • Keep wrapping paper and gift bags that are in good condition and reuse them the following year
  • Make gift tags out of old greeting cards
  • Switch plastic ribbons and sticky tape for more biodegradable options like twine and dried flowers
  • Paint or stamp newspaper or other recycled paper, or use kids’ artwork
  • Make the wrapping part of the gift by using a scarf, t-shirt, tea towel or fabric bag.

The tree and decorations

  • If you already own a plastic tree, look after it and use it for as many years as you can
  • Use decorations you already have, buy secondhand or make your own
  • Decorate a pot plant or tree branch
  • Get inventive and make a tree out of a stack of books, cardboard or other materials
  • Avoid buying new tinsel or other plastic decorations – look for paper, wood or other more sustainable options
  • Use LED Christmas lights and use a timer to switch them off overnight.

Food

  • Be realistic about how much food you need – the shops only close for one day!
  • Plan what you'll serve, make a shopping list and stick to it
  • Make a plan for how you will use your leftovers
  • Clear space in your freezer ahead of time so you can store leftovers for longer
  • Buy fresh food as close as possible to the day so that it doesn’t spoil.

On the day

  • Use real cutlery and crockery rather than disposable – ask guests to bring some if you don’t have enough!
  • Use cloth napkins rather than paper towels or serviettes
  • Set up some tubs or cardboard boxes for empty cans and bottles and other recyclables to make it easier on bin night.

Cleaning up

  • Look for things you can save for crafts or use again, like wrapping paper, boxes and ribbon
  • Use beeswax wraps instead of plastic cling wrap on your leftovers
  • Do the ‘tear test’ to check if wrapping paper is recyclable – if you see a plastic coating, put it in the garbage bin
  • Any food scraps, including meat and bones, can go in your food and garden bin (green bin)
  • Put smelly food scraps in the fridge or freezer until the night before you put your green bin out
  • Save drink cans and bottles for a 10c refund
  • Too much cardboard? Drop it off at a Resource Recovery Centre for free
  • Check your bin day (it might be different during the holiday period) and remember to put your bins out!

A-Z of Christmas waste – which bin does it go in?

While sorting your rubbish, please remember:
Put food and garden clippings into your green bin loose
Put recyclables into your recycling bin loose
Anything you put in your garbage bin must be wrapped or tied in a bag

More information: Which bin does it go in?

Back to top