For many around the world ‘tis the season to be jolly’! It’s the time of year to wrap up warmer, wrap up gifts for loved ones, and wrap up a year of hard work with roast dinners, stuffing and mince pies. All in time for new year’s resolutions to become healthier, have a more balanced lifestyle, and perhaps, live more sustainably?

Recycling advisors from WRAP estimate that in the UK the amount of wrapping paper thrown away would stretch to the moon! Combined with roughly one billion cards and enough tin foil to cover…wait for it… London, Leeds, Birmingham, Solihull, Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester, Dublin, Newcastle upon Tyne, Liverpool, Bristol, Coventry, Leicester, Wolverhampton AND Bradford! You might think ‘that’s a lot of rubbish!’

Rather than wait for the new year to arrive to implement any resolutions, there’s a few tips we can all follow now. Even though we can’t control the weather and make this festive season white with snow, we can make it our greenest.

Unwrapping gifts makes this time of year extra special. When giving physical gifts, we can all choose more sustainable options and reduce our waste by either using a reusable box, or using wrapping paper from recycled materials, or even something homemade!

When it comes to disposing of the wrapping, apart from the shiny metallic and glittery varieties, all paper, is recyclable. If in doubt, do the ‘scrunch test’ – if you can scrunch the paper with your hands and its stays in a ball then it can be recycled!

So, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to give a gift and/or unwrap one this year, follow the tips above and you can be contributing to a solution for the planet.