Posted on Friday, December 1, 2023
Now that December has arrived all of the team here at DC Site Services are getting into the Christmas spirit, but we’ve also had our thinking caps on to try and find ways of making our Christmas just a little bit more sustainable and environmentally friendly. So, we have spoken with our Head of Operations Scott Mason, and he’s come up with these top tips…
- Rent a tree. Rather than purchasing a fake Christmas tree there are now plenty of options to rent a tree instead. A quick google search will highlight lots of local farms who offer this service. You simply pay a rental fee and they can send (or you can collect) one of their carefully grown trees and at the end of the festive period you return the tree and it will be replanted ready to be rented out again next year!
- Card ideas. There are plenty of ways that you can change the way you purchase and give Christmas Cards. You could make your own, recycle cards, use plastic free cards and now you can even buy plantable Christmas cards which are embedded with seeds that can grow into flowers and help nature!
- Gift Ideas. Re-gifting has become more popular in recent times. If someone gives you a gift that you don’t need or use, you could pass this gift on to someone else. Or how about not having a physical gift at all and instead giving some a gift experience e-voucher. This could be for anything from visiting a museum, going on a nature walk or trying your hand at bee keeping!
- We can also all think about the amount of presents we give. We are always told it’s the thought that counts, we can still think of our loved ones while buying maybe just one less present!
- Wrapping paper! Very simple this one. You can make your own wrapping paper or buy recycled and compostable wrapping paper instead.
- Veggie Xmas. Not much explanation needed here. There are so many recipes for Christmas now that don’t involve meat at all! And if you find that you have some previously unknown culinary skills, we are always looking for Chefs to help feed our staff!
- Christmas Tree Chocolates. Instead of buying little chocolates with tin foil and string wrapped around them, you can get small reusable drawstring gift bags and fill them with your favourite chocolates or sweeties.
- Christmas Decorations. We all like our homes to look festive at this time of year but its possible to just make some Christmas decorations ourselves. We can use recycled Xmas cards or wrapping paper or if we have any budding artists out there you could completely design and make your own. And why not get the kids involved? You could let your child make a Christmas decoration themselves and you could use this for years to come.
These are just a few ideas but in keeping with the last point, click here to see a photo of a Christmas decoration made by a primary school age Scott. We won’t give his exact age away, but we can tell you this has been displayed by his parents for over three decades! If you had a similar decoration, please feel free to post a photo so we can see your handiwork!
