As you are bombarded with Black Friday deals and sales galore, have you thought about how your purchases will impact the environment?
As DEFRA report that 350’000 tonnes of clothes go into landfill each year and electronics are the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, might it be sensible as Christmas rolls into view to consider your purchasing habits to avoid adding to this number?
If you’ve been thinking about how you can shop in an eco-friendly way this holiday season, you aren’t alone. You can do many things to lower your carbon footprint, and you can make purchases that do less harm overall to the environment. Today we share our top four reasons to shop eco-friendly this Christmas.
DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT THING?
We all love saving a few pounds. In fact, it’s something of a national pastime. But the first step to being an eco-conscious consumer is to slow down and question whether. you really need the item you’re considering buying. Or, in the case of Christmas, does your friend or family member.
Instead, of buying something mass-produced, consider a handmade, bespoke purchase…
BUY HANDMADE
The actual physical manufacture of goods places a hefty toll on the environment. Not to mention the distribution process and the packaging waste — and the potential use of exploitative labour to produce the goods.
Instead, have you considered buying all handmade items (or better still, handmaking them yourself!) as gifts this year? We know it’s super easy to rock up to High Street and buy whatever the newest hottest item is or grab something cute and plastic, but the carbon footprint of these items is high. Buying handmade presents is cool, but you could even make something yourself.
Handmade Gift Ideas:
- Visit a local holiday market to find handmade jewellery and accessories for your female recipients. They would love something completely original and unique.
- Consider a handmade wooden nutcracker, Christmas star for the tree or other Christmas decoration from Erzgebirge, where they make every single piece by hand in small workshops.
- Take a look on Etsy to find an artisan in the UK (or near you) to buy from. They ship to you directly, so it cuts down on some transportation waste. But be careful as not everything on Etsy is handmade.
SUPPORT LOCAL PRODUCERS
Local businesses and producers need our help right now. When you buy from a local producer, your waste consumption plummets, and you’ll be supporting a small business, too. Imagine how many tonnes of carbon are saved when something doesn’t your item doesn’t have to fly or take a trip to many delivery points!
Do you have wineries in your region? A nice bottle of wine is one of the most appealing gifts. Or maybe you have a local bakery that you love? Everyone will appreciate an edible gift, so perhaps you gift a holiday pie or get a voucher to a bakery that is local to the recipient. Your gift doesn’t have to be a thing at all. You could gift an experience like a cooking class, walking tour or movie night…reducing waste even further. Result!
Read: 6 DIY eco-friendly gift packaging ideas.
REDUCE WASTE
Being an eco-conscious consumer means you greatly reduce the waste produced by your purchases. We never see the real impact since someone comes and takes our trash and recycling away to some mysterious place. But the Earth doesn’t have unlimited space for all our trash. If you can wrap your head around the waste produced during the entire process from conception to delivery, you can see what an impact every purchase makes.
If you’ve been waiting for this magical weekend to make all your gift purchases, stop and think about how your shopping will affect the planet and the people on it. Ultimately, it’s the thought that counts, but it doesn’t hurt to change to eco-friendly shopping this holiday season to reduce your impact on the environment.
