Here at PLC we L O V E the holiday season. Whatever you celebrate it is a time for family, friends, and indulging. A chance to treat your loved ones and embrace the end of the dark and the beginning of a new cycle of year and season. In terms of planet, we mark the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year by bringing evergreen into our homes and celebrating the beginning of the light coming back by lighting candles and decorating our homes with lights. It’s a deep and powerful moment to emulate the earths cycles within ourselves, ‘a time to birth our visions, name our dreams and make our resolutions for the coming months’ as Glennie Kindred reminds us.
But as we embrace the spirit of giving and sharing it is important to consider the impact that our celebrations might have on the planet and how we can make it a little bit more eco-friendly! Amidst the festive frenzy of gifts, cards and holiday cheer lies some dark statistics: a whopping 688,000 tonnes of food, plastic, cardboard and aluminium turns to waste, beating the rest of the year by a landslide of fifteen times!
Unwrapping the festive aftermath:
- 289,171 tonnes of card packaging
- 125,000 tonnes of Christmas plastic waste
- 4,200 tonnes of turkey foil
- 1 billion Christmas cards
- 227,000 miles of wrapping paper
- 270,000 tonnes of food waste (including 2 million turkeys, 5 million puddings, 74 million mince pies, and 2.2 million kg of cheese)
- 6 million Christmas trees
- 32.9 million advent calendars (Dobson 2023)
Here’s some of the ways the PLC team strive to enjoy the festive decorations, delicious feasts and the exchange of gifts in a way that’s gentle on the environment
Every year Kuda’s mum bakes her Christmas gifts – and we just can’t wait for ours. Privileged are those that make her gifting list each year! Sophia has been busy handknitting hats for everyone (ssssh don’t tell) with left over yarn. Alex’s family only gift to the under 18s in the family and donate to charity instead of adult gifting. Tabby and Orlanda’s family opted for Secret Santa, which not only cuts the consumerism hugely but gives an opportunity to give one lasting heartfelt gift.
When buying new, we gravitate towards wood and paper gifts that can be recycled, especially for the bulky stocking fillers! (Anything approved by the Forest Stewardship Council has our seal of approval).
One of the team adopted an animal from a dog rescue for her godchildren from Dog’s Trust. This was a much valued gift and they received regular postcards from their dog over a matter of years and eventually rescued a gorgeous Whippet from the same trust. We hear that the World Wildlife Fund does the same and you even get a plush toy to go with – perfect for kids (and for last minute gifts - plus can all be done online in an instant!).
We up our shopping game by choosing lasting gifts. Quality over quantity is our motto, investing in items crafted for longevity. Sustainability, after all, means ‘able to continue over a period of time’.
The death of this year and the birth of the new can be a time for us to let go of practices in our life that no longer serve us or the planet and adopt new strategies and ways of life with a new and refreshed sense of purpose. There is no perfect in the walk toward living sustainably and consciously. We hope you will join us in our efforts to be kind to ourselves, to let go of what we cannot control and bring in new practices that nurture us and our beautiful planet. Here's to a stylish and sustainable journey ahead!
Wishing you all a Planet Loving Christmas 🌍✨
References
https://planetlovingcompany.com/
https://www.livewest.co.uk/my-community/shopping-sustainably-at-christmas
https://www.wwf.org.uk/top-tips-sustainable-christmas#:~:text=Think%20about%20materials%3A%20Look%20at,Organic%2Dcertified%20food%20and%20clothing.
https://www.gwp.co.uk/guides/christmas-packaging-facts/#:~:text=More%20than%20100%20million%20bags,of%20food%20over%20the%20period.
Works Cited
Challenge Packaging. “Holiday Waste Statistics | Christmas Waste.” Challenge Packaging, 15 December 2021, https://www.challengepackaging.co.uk/blog/REVEALED-UK-Holiday-Waste-Statistics-Plus-Top-Tips-To-Reduce-Your-Waste-Footprint/. Accessed 30 November 2023.
Dobson, Matt. “Christmas packaging facts and waste statistics (updated for 2023).” GWP Group, 2023, https://www.gwp.co.uk/guides/christmas-packaging-facts/. Accessed 30 November 2023.
Live West. “Shopping sustainably at Christmas.” LiveWest, 14 December 2022, https://www.livewest.co.uk/my-community/shopping-sustainably-at-christmas. Accessed 30 November 2023.
Muddy Trowel. “\/.” YouTube, 16 June 2023, https://www.muddytrowel.com/christmas/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgqGrBhDtARIsAM5s0_klshRTTEP67PXDXANwc2wG5R88qtBfZRzgd-PYYdxr-UHPxLuasdAaAofAEALw_wcB. Accessed 30 November 2023.
Planet Loving Company. “Transparency.” Planet Loving Company, 16 June 2023, https://planetlovingcompany.com/pages/transparency. Accessed 30 November 2023.
World Wildlife Fund. “Adopt an Animal as a Gift Today | Support WWF.” Support WWF, https://support.wwf.org.uk/adopt-as-a-gift. Accessed 30 November 2023.