In the last post, I discussed overconsumption relating to sales, and it got me thinking about how it applied at Christmas. There are countless opportunities for overconsumption and in turn, waste which is rarely disposed of appropriately. This post discusses the main areas of overconsumption, the consequences and what we can do to minimise such impacts.
The main areas of overconsumption at Christmas
- Gifts: there is a huge societal pressure to buy gifts for everyone you know, and we often end up buying things purely out of obligation not because we want to gift something
- Food: Christmas dinner is the prime time to prepare large amounts of food and achieving the perfect amount can be difficult, therefore we tend to adopt the mindset of doing more ‘just in case’ which leads to not only a waste of food but also a waste of money
- Energy: the main source of this is decorative lights, whether they be on the Christmas tree or outside your house. Whilst many are sold with replaceable LED bulbs which tend to be energy efficient and reduce waste, we are still putting extra lights on
- Packaging: this includes the wrapping of gifts and the packaging the gifts are bought in, while these can look festive and elaborate, they are often not recyclable and people tend not to reuse them
Overconsumption leads to many environmental concerns stemming from increased resource extraction and waste. These actions lead to loss of biodiversity, climate change and increased spread of diseases
Solutions
- Mindful gift giving: focus on quality over quantity of gifts, it’s not about how much something costs or how big it is, but what it means to the individual. So don’t buy something they’re going to put in a cupboard or regift, maybe they’d prefer an experience or to sponsor an animal?
- Food planning: even though it’s tempting to buy food ‘just in case’ try to plan how much you need carefully based on how many you are catering for to reduce waste, but if there are leftovers refrigerate or freeze what you can and compost anythign you can’t reuse
- Gift wrapping: using gift bags is a great way to wrap presents without causing waste, as these can be reused over and over again, if this isn’t possible, use recycled and recyclable wrapping paper which doesn’t end up in landfill. A step further is to cut up old Christmas cards and use them as tags for gifts!
Meet Sprout, the guide dog my parents sponsor on my behalf. In 2020, this was one of my Christmas gifts and for the two years he was in training I received ‘pupdates’ on his progress. Once he graduated, my sponsor was moved over to another puppy. This is a great way to give back to the community with a cost which is spread over two years!
There are many things we can do to take responsibility for sustainability this Christmas, pick one to try and see how it improves your festivities!
Not My Monkey 