The Carbon Footprint of Christmas (and 12 ways to reduce it!)
In this post here, I share some stats for the carbon footprint of "Christmas" for 3 different scenarios:
- Low carbon scenario - 4kg CO2e per adult
- UK average - 280kg CO2e per adult
- High carbon scenario - 1500kg CO2e per adult
An important point to note, is that these figures (from Mike Berners-Lee's How Bad are Bananas?) are only including excess - so unwanted presents, wasted food, avoidable travel, fairy lights and cards!
So we can see that Christmas can be a pretty wasteful time of year (see this post here for some not so fun festive waste stats) not just in terms of our groaning black bins come the New Year, but also in terms of the excess greenhouse gases our heavy consumption at this time of year is pumping out into the atmosphere.
So should we just cancel Christmas?
Of course, that would be the 'greenest' option, but here at Sustainable(ish) it's all about trying to figure out how we can still do the things we love, in a less impactful way. And fortunately there are lots of things we can to reduce the carbon footprint of our festivities without having to resort to cancelling Christmas.
1. Give less and give better
According to Mike Berners-Lee, one of the biggest 'pieces of the pie' in that high carbon scenario is unwanted gifts. And apparently 81 million unwanted gifts are received each year, with 1 in 10 unwanted gifts ending up in landfill! (1)
Can you prune your list? Buy for kids only? Do a secret santa?
Martin Lewis aka The Money Saving Expert has been talking about this since 2013 when he first started talking about his 'no unecessary present pact'. You can read more about it here.
(Genuine fact: The Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving was a campaign group founded in New York in 1912, against pointless gifts at Christmas in response to what the women perceived to be unnecessary Christmas-related materialism. Membership grew to 6,000 people by 1913 but stalled in Christmas 1914 due to the outbreak of WW1 in Europe.)
2. Keep the receipts!
Really encourage people to be honest in their reactions to your presents. Emphasise that no offence will be taken, and that you'd rather return it and either get them something else (after consulting with them!) or give them the money, rather than something sitting there unloved and wanted and possibly ending up in landfill.
3.Reduce food waste
Food waste is another of the big chunks of the Christmas carbon footprint, and we waste around 7million tonnes of food at Christmas (3).
Make a meal plan for the festive fortnight - where you'll be when, and how many you're expecting for meals when you're at home. Factor in leftovers, and make good use of your freezer! Lots more food waste reduction tips here.
4. Send fewer cards
It never really occurred to me that most of the footprint from sending a Christmas card comes from the postal service, but when you think about it, it makes total sense.
Whilst it might not be possible to eradicate your Christmas card list entirely (many people have elderly relatives who really love receiving cards) but could you cut down a little? E-cards are an increasingly popular option, and if you're sending cards to local people, can you bike or walk and post by hand - who knows, you might even be invited in for a cuppa and a catch up! (And if you're thinking "Oh god, no thanks, not sure I want a cuppa and a catch up with xxx", maybe you don't need to send them a card..?!!)
Christmas cards from kids to every other child in their class is a problem I was naively unaware of until my own started school. And then I spent several years battling with my kids to get them write 30 of the bloody things, and then latterly feeling very guilty at the sheer waste generated. 30 kids in a class, each sending each other a card is 870 cards and envelopes. For one class! Multiply that by the number of classes in the school and you're suddenly looking at a LOT of card and paper. Even if it's all recycled afterwards.
If you get in early, you might be able to whizz off a quick e-mail to your class teacher, or even headteacher, suggesting that each child can make one card, and that these can be displayed on the wall?
Pic: Eco Essex on FB
5. Green your fairy lights
With energy prices at record levels, we're all watching the bills this winter.
Check out your fairy lights to see if they're LED - these use way less energy than the old-fashioned types. Make sure you take any older style ones to the WEEE recycling at your local recycling centre.
Turn your lights off overnight and when you're out, and if you have a timer plug or a smart plug, use this to make sure you don't leave them on overnight accidentally.
6. Trim your Christmas dinner
This is a great graph from this article here that dives into the carbon footprint of our Christmas dinner:
So beef and lamb are the highest carbon options. And turkey has 3x the footprint of chicken!
There aren't any veggie or vegan options shown on here, but clearly they would have even lower footprints. It's also worth noting:
- Organic veggies will have a lower impact than conventional
- Avoid air-freighted and out of season foods if you can - so no mange tout, strawberries, blueberries etc
If you're feeling super geeky, you can even work out the carbon footprint of your very own Christmas dinner using the Floop app! They've got a brilliant blog post where they've broken down the footprint of a typical Christmas dinner.
7. Real vs artificial tree
This is a good video here from the BBC that explains where the footprint of different Christmas tree choices is coming from.
- Artificial Christmas trees - if you have one, or you buy one, keep it in use for as long as possible. It needs to be used for around 10 years before it has a lower impact than a real tree. But even then it's still impossible to recycle and will end up in landfill.
- Real Christmas trees - buy locally grown, and make sure it's composted or mulched after you're done with it.
OR buy one with roots that you can plant out.
OR rent one!
OR upcycle like we do - we made our pompom tree from secondhand yarn about 5 years ago and it's still going strong and always sparks off some great conversations!
8. Stay grounded
Potentially this one is tricky if you have family abroad, BUT for anyone else, not flying at Christmas (unless you have a reindeer powered sleigh) is key. I genuinely think we need to question whether a 2 or 3 day trip to Lapland is a good use of our remaining carbon budget. I feel Scrooge like saying it, and I'm sure it's super magical, but there are loads of good 'winter wonderlands' here in the UK that don't need a flight.
10. Reduce your heating
If you've got lots of extra people in the house and the oven is on a lot, you should be able to get away with reducing the thermostat a degree or two. Not only will this reduce your gas usage and associated greenhouse gas emissions, it will save you money too! According to The Energy Saving Trust "turning your room thermostat down by just one degree could save £60 on your heating bills and 310kg of carbon dioxide a year from your household carbon footprint". Even if you just manage if for a few days over the Christmas period, it will still make a difference!
10. Cook clever
Try to plan ahead so that if the oven is on, it's full. Can you pop a pudding or some mince pies in there while you're cooking dinner?
Embrace your slow cooker - great for batch cooking big meals if you've got family round, but you can also do your Christmas pud in there, using way less energy than boiling away for hours on the hob.
Using the microwave for re-heating leftovers is also lower energy than putting the oven on.
11. Travel light
Christmas centres around family for many of us, which can mean trawling up and down the country in our cars.
- Can you go by train? Not always possible and possibly fairly pricey, but worth a look! Check out TrainHugger who plant trees for tickets!
- If you have already have an EV, then that's great. If not, could you rent one for the week? Have a look to see if the Karshare scheme is up and running locally to you - I did a podcast with them and it sounds like a great idea!
- Stick to the speed limit....! The faster you go, the less efficient it is...
- Pack well - if you can, try and get everything inside the car - roof boxes add to drag, meaning you'll burn more fuel.
- Plan well - if possible, try and plan your trips to avoid the expected busy periods, saving you the petrol burned sitting in tailbacks.
12. Think secondhand first
Secondhand gifts, Christmas jumpers, nativity costumes and decorations will ALWAYS be a lower carbon option. You're making use of the energy and resources that have already gone into a product, potentially saving something from landfill, AND saving money - what's not to love?!
References
(1): https://www.ribbex.co.uk/news/one-in-10-unwanted-christmas-gifts-ends-up-in-landfill/
(2): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Useless_Giving
(3): https://commercialwaste.trade/food-waste-christmas/
Have you got any plans for a lower carbon Christmas this year?
Do share in the comments!
INTRODUCING THE CRAP-FREE CHRISTMAS COURSE!
Packed with hints, tips, ideas and links for a Christmas with less waste and less impact on the planet, one imperfect step at a time!
This is an online self-paced course, meaning you can dip in and out at your own pace and pick and choose what you want to focus on.
