Tips for a
Sustainable Christmas
Christmas is a time for family and friends, gift giving and holidays treats. For most people, it’s a time to
celebrate, reflect, and spoil ourselves and those around us. To help you add a dash of green to your holiday
spirit, here are some of our favourite tips for a sustainable Christmas season:
There is a lot of debate about
whether real trees or artificial
trees are more sustainable.
Artificial trees can last for
years, but are made of
unsustainable plastic. Real trees
are biodegradable, but may be
harvested unsustainably.
• for artificial trees, try to avoid ones made from PVCs
and be sure to buy a quality tree that will last for many
years.
• for real trees, try to find one that has been grown
without herbicides or pesticides (because no one wants
those in their living room).
• the City of Lethbridge is offering pick up and mulching of
Christmas trees on January 9, 2016.
We can all picture the speed
at which perfectly wrapped
presents turn into a mound
of wrapping paper and boxes
that engulfs the living room on
Christmas morning. To reduce
the impact of your wrapping
paper mountain, consider using
reusable wrappings such as
fabric or paper gift bags or reusable tins. Here are a few
more creative gift wrapping ideas.
If you have a crafty side, reuse and decorate newspaper,
old maps, or old Christmas cards. Give some of these ideas
a try.
For those items (and there are always a few) that need
to be wrapped with paper, be sure to choose a wrapping
paper that can be recycled. Shiny papers (and of course
plastic) are less recyclable than the others. After Christmas,
wrapping paper can be dropped at the City of Lethbridge
recycling stations or save any paper that isn’t ripped or
damaged to be used again next year.
We all love to give (and receive)
gifts during the Christmas
season, here are some ways
to make your gift giving more
sustainable.
Shop locally
The money you spend
supporting local businesses or
artisans stays in Lethbridge and contributes 3 times as
much to the local community compared to money spent
at chain stores or online. Find a local business through the
Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce.
Don’t worry that buying handmade means spending more
money. Most artisans offer a range of items. Consider
giving a locally made ornament as a hostess gift or take
the plunge and make your own. There are many Christmas
Craft Fairs featuring local vendors, here are a couple of the
larger ones:
November 27 & 28 - Farmer’s Market at Exhibition Park
November 20 & 21 - Christmas at CASA
November 20 - Holiday Market at SAAG
Buy quality
When choosing gifts, try to avoid disposable items or gifts
that aren’t made to last. Vintage items are very trendy
right now and have clearly stood the test of time. Click
here to explore Lethbridge’s antique and vintage stores.
Give an experience
Cut back on the amount of “stuff” by giving experiences
rather than things this Christmas. Experiences can be as
simple as gift cards for a massage or a round of golf or a
family vacation. To keep your gift local, consider a season
pass to Waterton Park, tickets to Lethbridge Musical
Theatre or another muscial event, Lethbridge Hurricanes
tickets, an art class at CASA, or many of the other
experiences available in Lethbridge or southern Alberta.
Support local food producers
and suppliers for your meals
and entertaining this Christmas.
Southern Alberta has numerous
small and large agricultural
producers who grow everything
from vegetables to beef to
honey and turkeys. Consider
adding a local touch to this year’s
Christmas dinner. Try these links to find a variety of local
food producers:
Highwood Natural Food Suppliers List
Mocha Cabana Suppliers List
When shopping for Christmas dinner, think about
packaging for both food and gifts. Whenever possible,
buy items with less packaging or packaging that is fully
recyclable.
Christmas is often a time to
reflect on our own lives and to
give to those less fortunate. Take
the opportunity to extend your
sustainable impact beyond your
friends and family and give back
to the community. Lethbridge
has many valuable charitable
organizations who work to
support our community. Here’s a list to help you give
where you live.
Another way to support sustainability is to donate your
old items to secondhand stores where they can be reused
instead of thrown away. Here is a list of secondhand
stores in Lethbridge, it is always a good idea to call before
dropping off items to make sure stores have room for your
donations.
Did you know?
If everyone in Canada used reusable wrapping for
3 gifts, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000
hockey rinks!
A card or gift tag can add a
personal touch to your gift.
Instead of a disposable tag,
consider using a tree ornament
as a lasting reminder of your gift.
Make your own, or find a local
artisan at a local craft fair.
Last year’s Christmas cards also make great gift tags. Cut
out the images or greetings from old cards to make new
gift tags. As a option to commercial tags and cards, buy
blank card stock and have your kids create and decorate
cards and tags to add a personal touch to your family’s
gifts.
Christmas lights add sparkle
to our short December nights.
Here are a few tips for more
sustainable (and less expensive)
Christmas lighting:
• Be sure to upgrade any
remaining incandescent bulbs to
more energy friendly LED lights.
LED Christmas lights are available
from most hardware and department stores.
• Using timers for both indoor and outdoor lights will
ensure that you remember to turn your lights off at the
end of the evening.
• Consider tyring solar-powered outdoor lights to help
keep your energy bill down.
In the midst of all the excitement
and celebration, Christmas can
be busy and overwhelming. Be
sure to make time for yourself
over the holiday season, do the
activities you want to do and say
no to those you don’t. Having
a green Christmas is about
being sustainable for yourself
as well as our environment. Be sure to include time in
your sustainable Christmas to enjoy the season, go for a
walk in the snow, take the kids sledding or skating, make a
snowman, or bake cookies.
Environment Lethbridge was established in 2012 to inspire
and equip people to create widespread community action and
engagement towards sustainability.
Contact us:
www.environmentlethbridge.ca
[email protected]
403-330-6241