Christmas is a wonderful but one of the most wasteful times of the year – but it doesn’t have to be.
According to WasteMINZ, New Zealand households generate around 30% more waste over the festive season from food, packaging, and wrapping paper.
This Christmas, you can follow their “Make Memories, Not Waste” campaign, otherwise here are five ways you can celebrate the festive season without costing the environment.
1. Make your own Christmas gifts and decorations
Often, the gift you make yourself has more meaning to the person receiving it. If you need some inspiration for making a sustainable gift for someone special, Waimakariri Libraries can help.
Check out our new eLibrary app Creativebug for thousands of arts and crafts classes or make your own Christmas gifts and decorations in the Rangiora Library Tinker Zone.
Waimakariri Libraries are also hosting beeswax wraps workshops:
- Thursday 4 December at Kaiapoi Library, 5.30pm
- Friday 5 December at Rangiora Library, 5.30pm
2. Thrift a gift
We’re spoiled for choice in Waimakariri for places to pick up a second-hand bargain.
From charity shops to the vintage and antique stores that you’ll find scattered around the District, why not challenge your family to only gift each other pre-loved items this Christmas?
You can find the list of second-hand stores on the Visit Waimakariri website. And don’t forget – we have the ReSale Store at the Southbrook Resource Recovery Park, open from 8.30am-4.30pm daily.
3. Donate unwanted items
If you’re planning on visiting the op-shops, you might want to donate some of your own items at the same time.
From clothing to kids’ toys, books, household electronics, sports equipment and more – if you’ve finished with it, there might be someone else out there who needs what you no longer want. Avoid the bin and give clean and usable unwanted items a second chance at life.
4. Choose alternative gift wrap
Although they might look great, Christmas foil wrap, shiny or plastic gift bags are not recyclable.
Instead, you can opt for reusable or recyclable options like fabric, brown paper or reusable containers like tote bags, baskets and jars.
A clean tea towel can double as a bonus gift and serve as a unique wrap.
Knitted and fabric wrapped gifts under a tree at the Soroptimist Christmas Tree Festival
5. Avoid wasting food
This time of year, it’s easy to let our appetites outpace our plates. It’s easy for food to get forgotten or go to waste. But with some practical solutions and pre-planning, you can avoid filling up your green bin.
Check out lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz for ways to use leftovers, how to stick to a food list, and keep food safe during the summer heat.
You could also turn excess into connection by exchanging surplus fruit and vegetables with your neighbours.
Kerbside collections over Christmas/New Years
There will be no collections on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. From Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, kerbside collections will move to the following day for the remainder of the week.
Collection times may vary during the holiday period. Please contact the Council on 0800 965 468 if you experience any problems with your kerbside collections.
Remember, you can sign up for text alerts to remind you when to put out your bins at rethinkrubbish.co.nz
