A Christmas gift to the planet

Mackenzie Sanche - Le vendredi 11 décembre 2020

Christmas is a time of love and sharing, but according to Zero Waste Canada this is also the season when household waste can climb up to 25% more than usual. Changing some traditions to more sustainable options may be the best way to show your love this Christmas.

Photo courtesy of Mélanie Major

A survey by Statutory Holidays Canada shows that Christmas is by far the most popular holiday, accumulating just over 40% of Canadian votes. As the year comes to an end, pollution and waste peak in this time of gifting and consumerism. So how can you make this Christmas more sustainable and eco-friendly?

Wasteful activities during the holiday season include gift choices, wrappings, long-distance travelling, menu decisions and decorations, among others. Mélanie Major, a mother of four who has been transitioning to a zero waste lifestyle during the last few years, offers some insights.

“When you decide to make the switch to zero waste, you notice the waste even more,” says Major. “You tell yourself that there just has to be a solution to all this.”

Less waste and saving your waist

Solutions there are, and Major begins with food since we eat 80% more on Christmas Day according to Commercial Waste. During her lifestyle changes, she started trying to find ways to use up every part of the fruit and vegetables she consumes. She also started using Mason jars to preserve her garden products and grows fine herbs and lettuce inside for the colder seasons. “When you stop and read on the subject, it makes you look at your plate differently,” she remarks. That’s why her family now eats only two meals with meat per week, knowing that cattle agriculture is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Major suggests eliminating some meat – if not all – from your Christmas menu to reduce your environmental footprint. Making smaller quantities of food also avoids waste, as well as finding recipes for your leftovers.

© Mackenzie Sanche

According to Commercial Waste, the University of Manchester calculated in 2011 that “our combined Christmas dinners produce the same carbon footprint as a single car travelling 6,000 times around the world”. Mélanie Major agrees, however, that ditching long-standing traditions is harder, but she believes that they can be kept by updating them. “You can keep your traditional meat pie, but find a vegetarian or a vegan version of it, for example.”

These ideas for your Christmas menu are healthy, better proportioned and less wasteful.

Gifting responsibly

Christmas is known to rhyme with gifts, which sometimes causes panic shopping or, as Major calls it, “buying a gift just for the sake of buying a gift”. Zero Waste Canada states: “Within 6 months, only 1% of everything the average person buys is still in use, the other 99% has been discarded.” This is why Major much prefers more thoughtful gifts such as activities, books written by Quebeckers, gifts bought secondhand and handmade presents. Buying locally from Quebeckers is also a good way to go, as there are so many artisans and authors that will benefit from your purchases as well as the person you are gifting them to. She also suggested gifting a Christmas meal to people who are alone. Major much appreciated receiving homemade meals from her mother a while back and encourages this to break solitude this December.

Pondering the wrapping

© Mackenzie Sanche

Common zero waste wrapping methods are the use of kraft paper and newspaper, but Major uses other options for now.

“I have a reputation of being the one who collects silk paper and gift bags at gatherings,” she laughs. “I am still running on the same old gift bags I reuse.”

She and her family also use practical things as wrapping, like scarves, towels, blankets and other such fabrics that are then part of the present.

The Zero Waste Canada Christmas guide suggests using wool, string and ribbons instead of the 6 million rolls of tape that Canadians use on gift-wrapping every year. The same source specifies that gift-wrapping and shopping bags create 545,000 tonnes of waste yearly.

These small swaps can considerably lower the waste generated by households.

Sustainable Christmas aesthetics

Decorations are a big part of Christmas traditions, ranging from the tree to lighting up the neighbourhood.

Concerning the tree, there is debate as to which option is more sustainable: fake or real? Some believe that fake trees provoke plastic waste whilst others condemn deforestation during the holidays. It’s important to compare what will be better in the long run. Although Major doesn’t necessarily swap out her decorations for sustainable options, she says her Christmas tree is full of her children’s crafts or a collection of ornaments her mother ties to their gifts every year. This prevents the purchase of new decorations and adds character to her tree. On the other hand, Jessica Clifton, the woman behind Impact for Good, proposes drying slices of citrus and running strings through them to decorate, which is a compostable option and can also be fed to backyard animals afterwards.

Why make the switch?

“When I first got pregnant, it just clicked,” explains Major. “It’s nice to have a child, but in what world do we want them to grow up?”

She chooses to reduce her waste and change her consumption habits for the best. Hoping to pass on these values to her children, she thinks that it will help them later. If the world decides to make a change, it will be less drastic for them.

Photo courtesy of Mélanie Major

Simple things like shopping secondhand and being self-sufficient with food will already be anchored in their beliefs. Major says that this lifestyle becomes like a challenge or a game instead being restrictive.

“I talked about this with my grandmother and there are so many things she knew before that have changed to single-use plastics since then,” she adds. “If they were doing it before, why aren’t we now?”

Christmas is a good place to start making changes. And who knows? Maybe it will spark interest for every other day of the year!