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8 tips for a sustainable Christmas

Written by: Svenja Schindler

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Time to read 5 min

Introduction


The mountains of rubbish are piling up day by day during the Christmas season. Unfortunately, sustainability is often written in small letters, especially at Christmas. That's why we've collected 8 tips for you on how to celebrate a sustainable Christmas.

1. Matching wrapping paper for a sustainable Christmas

After Christmas, large mountains of wrapping paper are left over that end up straight in the bin. There are a variety of environmentally friendly alternatives to make your gifts look nice even without wrapping paper. This is how you get closer and closer to your desire to celebrate a sustainable Christmas:


  • You can use calendar sheets, newspapers and magazines, for example, to wrap your gifts in a unique way
  • Wrapping paper looks good and gives you the opportunity to write on or paint on the presents
  • If you have leftover fabric scraps, you can tie them in a bow around your gift to make it look more colourful
  • You can also easily use fabrics like a scarf or tea towels to wrap the gift

2. Sustainable coffee

You have a capsule machine at home, but the waste from the aluminum capsules makes you feel guilty? Especially on the cold days in winter, people drink more coffee and tea, which ultimately leads to increased waste production. Did you know that the natural decomposition of an aluminum capsule takes more than 200 years, can have health effects on the human body and that the production of these capsules alone leaves an enormous ecological footprint? Far too bad to associate a stimulant like coffee with it.

Our solution: The coffee capsules from My Coffee Cup! They consist of bio-based raw materials and are filled with organic coffee. In addition, the natural decomposability of the capsule is around 26 weeks.
In keeping with the winter season, our Winter Special enchants your day with cozy warmth.

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3. Homemade gifts for grandma & grandpa

How about something that comes from the heart? Be it for grandma & grandpa, aunt & uncle or mum & dad. Before you have to worry about what you want to give as a Christmas present again this year, homemade things like pesto, liqueur or roasted almonds are ideal and something everyone will be happy about. That's why we've selected a delicious pesto recipe for you, which is guaranteed to make everyone happy at Christmas.

Basil pesto for a sustainable Christmas

Ingredients:

  • 1 bunch of basil
  • 30 g of roasted pine nuts
  • 30g parmesan
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • some olive oil
  • Salt & Pepper

Preparation:

  1. Basil, pine nuts, parmesan and garlic are put in a bowl and then pureed.
  2. Add some olive oil
  3. Flavour the pesto with salt and pepper

4. Sustainable Christmas: candles without paraffin and palm oil

Whether for the Advent wreath or for cozy evenings on cold winter days - a Christmas without candles is hard to imagine. But many are not even aware of the side effects of some candles. In order to be able to celebrate Christmas sustainably, one should also pay attention to the ingredients of the candles.

Paraffin candles release various substances that are harmful to the environment and health. Paraffin, a by-product of crude oil processing, is one of the biggest climate killers. Vegetable fats such as palm stearin are therefore becoming increasingly important as an alternative to paraffin wax in candle manufacture.

Vegetable stearin is mainly obtained from palm oil. In other words, from monoculture plantations that are located where climate-friendly rainforests should actually be growing. In Indonesia and Malaysia in particular, large parts of the tropical rainforest were destroyed for the cultivation of oil palms, which led to the extinction of species. Slash-and-burn also affects the global climate.

Suitable alternatives

In Germany, many candles have the RAL quality seal. With the seal, the manufacturers have committed themselves not to use any raw materials, paints or varnishes that are contaminated with harmful substances.

If you have a lot of tea lights with an aluminum holder at home, but want to experience a sustainable Christmas, you can buy herbal tea lights without an aluminum rim and refill the old aluminum rings.

Organic candles made from beeswax are best, however, as they are produced in an environmentally friendly way.

5. Christmas tree in a pot

Around 30 million Christmas trees are sold in Germany alone every year and disposed of after just a few days. Unfortunately, many of these Christmas trees come from monocultures and are treated with pesticides.

There are solutions for this:

  • You can make sure that the Christmas tree comes from Germany and has an FSC seal. These come from a nature-friendly forest management.
  • If you have a plastic Christmas tree at home, use it as long as possible!
  • Another option is the potted Christmas tree. Do you already have a suitable plant at home or have you had a larger plant for your living room on your shopping list for a long time? Then the Christmas season is perfect for tackling it. Decorate your houseplant with Christmas decorations and you've already taken a big step towards being able to celebrate Christmas in a sustainable way.

    Fun Fact: Are you a coffee drinker and want to become even more sustainable? The coffee capsules from My Coffee Cup are compostable. Take your used coffee capsules, cut them up and put the capsules in the ground when you plant the plant. After about 26 weeks, the capsules have naturally decomposed in your potted plant and you can look at your tree on Christmas Eve and look forward to a sustainable Christmas.

6. Christmas decoration

Christmas decorations brighten up our Advent season enormously. But here, too, there are some approaches that you can do for a sustainable Christmas! Instead of tinsel and Christmas balls, how about something from nature? Stars made of straw, figures made of beeswax or wood, dried orange slices or cinnamon sticks make your home look just as Christmassy.

Instructions for dried orange slices

Of course you can also let the orange slices dry out in the oven, but with our method you can save a lot of energy!

  1. Cut the oranges into 1 to 2 cm thick slices.
  2. Pre-dry the slices by gently pressing them between kitchen paper. Be careful not to damage too many fruit chambers.
  3. Then place the slices on fresh kitchen paper so that the moisture can be better distributed and evaporate during drying.
  4. Find a warm and airy place in your apartment where the orange slices can dry optimally. Radiators or sunny corners in the apartment are best.
  5. Turn the orange slices daily.This prevents mold from forming, the panes dry faster and stay straight.

Tip: If you change the kitchen paper more often during the first few days, it will speed up the drying process.

7. Sustainable Christmas market

Festively decorated stalls, delicious food and good-smelling mulled wine throughout the city. This is how we all imagine a cozy Christmas market. Unfortunately, the truth often looks different. Overcrowded Christmas markets, cheap mulled wine and far too long queues at the food stalls. Therefore, many people are already looking for a more relaxed alternative.

An alternative are sustainable Christmas markets. Not only is organic mulled wine served there, but there are also vegan alternatives to bratwurst and a lot of stands with handmade Christmas gifts.

Here you will find some sustainable Christmas markets listed. This makes it easier and easier to celebrate sustainable Christmas.

8th. Support local businesses for a sustainable Christmas

If you want to buy gifts, then if possible do not order online from well-known giants, but focus on products in your area. There are certainly small manufacturers, socially responsible shops or bulk shops where you will find a special gift.

If there is no way around ordering online, you will find 10 tips for more environmentally friendly orders.

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