Waste increases by about 30 per cent at Christmas time, so we’ve put together some tips to help you have a more sustainable silly season this year.
Avoid food waste
- Pre-plan your meals.
- Check what food you have before you go shopping.
- Write a shopping list.
- Give away or freeze leftovers.
- Bonus FOGO tip: put all festive food scraps (like ham bones, turkey carcasses, prawn/crayfish shells) in your FOGO bin for weekly collection.
Low-waste gifts
- Give experiences, donations or gift vouchers.
- Secret Santa is a fun way to reduce waste.
- Gift sustainable alternatives to single-use items like coffee cups and produce bags.
Sustainable wrapping
- Reuse children’s drawings or paintings as wrapping paper.
- Try Furoshiki – a Japanese technique that uses reusable fabric wraps.
- Get creative and use tea towels, newspaper, a vintage scarf, reusable food wrap (such as beeswax wraps), or a stainless-steel container.
Is your recycling bin overflowing?
- Set-up a Containers for Change collection for eligible drink containers.
- Fold, flatten or cut up cardboard boxes to save space.
- Take your excess recyclables like cardboard, polystyrene, bottles or containers to the West Metro Recycling Centre (open every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day).