I love Christmas and I love choosing presents to give to friends and family. Part of the fun is spending Christmas Eve wrapping the presents to make them look nice.
But, after reading my post below you’ll understand why we all need to find ways of making Zero Waste Friendly Christmas Wrapping the norm.
christmas waste facts revealed
Over the Christmas period in the UK we create an awful lot of waste. Last year The Wildlife and Countryside Link published new estimates showing the scale of plastic and other waste that will be discarded over the holiday season.
The figures reveal:
• Around 114,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be thrown away and not recycled – which is more than the weight of 3.3 million Emperor penguins.
• Around 88-square-kms of wrapping paper is likely to be used – enough to cover either Brighton and Hove, Coventry, Newport, Preston, Reading, Sunderland or Swansea.
• The UK uses 300,000 tonnes of card packaging at Christmas – the equivalent weight of two million reindeer.
• The total waste created in the UK this Christmas from food and drink, packaging, wrapping paper, cards, Christmas trees and other rubbish is likely to exceed five million tonnes – equivalent to around 450,000 double-decker buses.
We’re also likely to use more than 40 million rolls of sticky tape and bin almost 100 million black bags full of packaging from toys and gifts.
And, did you know that not all wrapping paper is paper! Which means that a lot of wrapping can’t be recycled. And, it definitely can’t be recycled if it’s covered in Sellotape or if it’s wrapping that contains foil or glitter, none of which can be recycled.
You can check to see if the wrapping paper is recyclable. Try to scrunch up the paper into a ball. If it scrunches, and stays scrunched, it can be recycled if it doesn’t have any glitter on it.
5 Zero Waste Friendly Christmas Wrapping Ideas
To help reduce waste over the Christmas period here are 5 of my favourite ways to wrap Christmas presents with less waste.
1. Recycled Brown Paper
I’ve wrapped Christmas presents in plain brown recycled paper for years and you can make them look really festive and pretty. And, If the paper you’ve bought is recycled then it’s safe to say you can recycle it again afterwards.
If you’re using recycled brown paper for your Zero Waste Friendly Christmas Wrapping make sure you also use paper sticky tape rather than Sellotape.
Once you’ve wrapped your presents you can make them look pretty with coloured twine or why not add some sprigs of holy or ivy foraged from the garden or hedgerow.
2. Newspaper
Newspaper makes great Christmas wrapping paper. Try to make sure you use a newspaper where the ink doesn’t rub off on your fingers otherwise everyone will get a bit messy on Christmas morning.
I like to add a bit of colour to my newspaper wrapped pressies and use eco-friendly raffia ribbon to tie around the parcels.
3. Basket or Container
A great way to make a present look nice is to use a basket or other container that also forms part of the present. You can add some recycled tissue paper and then tie it all up with a pretty bow.
Every year I save any ribbon that has been used to wrap presents and use it again the following year. I also like to add small wooden tree decorations. The wooden tree decorations can then either be used on another present the following year or kept and added to the Christmas decorations.
You can also use the wooden tree decorations as gift tags.
4. Use Fabric to Wrap Presents
Leftover fabric is also a nice way to wrap a present. Or you could even use something like a tea towel or scarf which would then form part of the gift.
For this gift I used a tea towel and wrapped the box in the same way I would if I was suing paper but instead of using paper tape, I just tied the gift up with string and added a luggage label for the gift tag. If you want to make it more festive just add some sprigs of holy or red berries.
5. Paper Bag
Another simple way to wrap a present is to use a paper bag. You can pop the present inside and use some recycled tissue paper or newspaper inside if you want to. Then just use a piece of paper tape to seal it and add some decoration. Again, I’ve used some wooden tree decorations for this present.
Zero Waste Friendly Christmas Wrapping
If you’re looking for some Zero Waste Friendly Christmas Wrapping supplies check out this Zero Waste Christmas Wrapping Bundle in TMG Shop
And I’d love to hear your favourite Christmas Wrapping ideas to help reduce waste.
Some great ideas here I might use newspaper this year because those statistics are shocking! Love the idea of using fabric too.
the statistics on re-cycling are shocking. There are some great ideas here – thank you. I’ve been using brown paper and bags with Christmas ink stamps for a few years too. Not thought about fabric though. Love Bec x
I love the brown wrapping paper with red string, we have used that before and it looks fab under the tree. When I give food gifts I make up a hamper with the container being part of the gift too.
this is what we be doing this year too , i hate waste and the fact that most of patterned paper is not even recyclable so brown paper will be for us as well
I’ve done brown paper before but love the idea of using materials. What shocking statistics!
Those stats are astonishing. It has made me think twice about how I wrap this year. I am a massive fan of recycling gift bags plus it is quick!
These are such good ideas! My husband’s family use newspaper to wrap their presents 🙂
I love the simplicity of this#bloggeresrequiredlinky@_karendennis
Some lovely ideas here. I think I will use some brown paper and ribbon for my wrapping this year x
I am lead to believe that if you iron the newspaper first it stops the ink from coming off
Yes I’ve heard that as well 🙂