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Transition Lostwithiel

GREEN CHRISTMAS

Church Rooms, Thursday 10th December 6pm-9pm, Dickensian Night 2009

On our Green Christmas stall we had great ideas for a Green Christmas, from decorations to presents. Here are some templates you can download for home-made festive fun:

If you're dreaming of a Greener Christmas, here are a few suggestions:

  • Give annual memberships or vouchers for special treats - less postage and no production costs!
  • For the personal touch give home-made presents or promise certificates e.g. "I promise to pay the bearer one evening of baby-sitting"
  • Try flea markets, antique jewellery and vintage clothing shops for gifts that are unique as well as recycled
  • Make a hamper with local produce from Lostwithiel farmers' market and foodie shops
  • Organise a 'Secret Santa' with a gift budget amongst family, friends or colleagues
  • Give a gift to charity like Oxfam Unwrapped or Age UK's Cows 'n' Things
  • Take re-usable bags when you do your Christmas shopping - cotton bags are pretty and practical to wrap up presents with!
  • Choose recycled charity cards and wrapping paper. In 2004 we sent around 744 million Christmas cards - recycling these would save 248,000 trees
  • More than 8,000 tonnes of wrapping paper is used on Christmas presents. Use fabric scraps to wrap presents Japanese style
  • Indoor strings of Christmas lights don't use a lot of energy. If you really want to cut your energy use, swap your ordinary bulbs for energy savings ones.
  • Have a traditional Christmas dinner with seasonal British produce from local suppliers to cut down on food miles. Trevalon Farm near Looe run a veg box scheme
  • Buy loose rather than pre-packed vegetables - it'll help cut down on waste packaging
  • If you're having a party, borrow extra crockery from neighbours instead of buying disposable plates. Many wine shops lend boxes of wine glasses to customers.
  • There is a Council door-step Christmas tree collection service but, like the £1 brown bags for Garden Waste, they end up landfill! Take it to Connon Bridge HWRC to be composted
  • Put your peelings and leftovers in a compost bin or green cone. Around 4,000 million sprouts are bought in the week before Christmas - we're sure they aren't all eaten!
  • The average family wastes around a third of the food they buy. Calculate the perfect portion size at Love Food Hate Waste: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/perfect_portions
  • 4,200 tonnes of aluminium foil used for cooking turkeys are thrown away in the UK each Christmas - if you can't re-use the foil for cooking, put it in the recycling

Thanks to FoE for some of these ideas