How do I get through Christmas with less waste?

Christmas waste is concentrated into a fortnight and made up of a small number of predictable things. Almost all of it is decided by purchasing rather than by disposal, which is why the useful action happens in November.

Step by step

1. Deal with food first — it is most of it.Household food waste rises sharply over Christmas, and the cause is buying for a fortnight of siege conditions when the shops reopen after a day or two. Plan for the days you are actually cooking.
2. Work out quantities per person properly.Most people cook substantially more than gets eaten. Calculate per head rather than by dish, and remember that a large table of side dishes means people take less of each rather than more overall.
3. Plan the leftovers before you cook.Knowing on the 24th what the turkey becomes on the 27th changes what you buy. Leftovers with a plan get eaten; leftovers without one become the largest single source of waste.
4. Freeze early rather than late.Portion and freeze leftovers on the day or the day after, not when they are on their last day. Bread, cooked meat and cake all freeze well, and this is the step most often left too late.
5. Do the scrunch test on wrapping paper.Scrunch it in your hand. If it stays scrunched, it is paper and recyclable. If it springs back, it has a plastic or foil layer and goes in general waste. Glitter paper never recycles.
6. Remove tape, ribbon and labels before recycling.Plastic tape and ribbon contaminate a paper stream. Two seconds per parcel, and it is the difference between paper being recycled and a whole batch being rejected.
7. Choose wrapping that can be recycled or reused.Plain kraft paper with paper tape and string, brown paper decorated by children, or fabric wraps that get reused for years. All cheaper than glitter paper as well.
8. Keep and reuse what is worth keeping.Gift bags, boxes, ribbon and tissue paper. A box in the loft that gets emptied and refilled each year removes most of the wrapping purchase entirely.
9. Know what cannot be recycled.Glitter paper, foil-lined paper, most crackers, ribbon, bows, sticky tape, and cards with glitter or embellishments. Putting them in the recycling contaminates it rather than helping.
10. Rethink crackers.The contents are the least-used gifts of the year and almost none of it is recyclable. Reusable fabric crackers, or filling plain ones yourself, removes a whole category.
11. Agree fewer gifts in advance.A secret santa draw, a spending limit, or children-only. Unwanted gifts are waste with an emotional cost attached, and the arrangement has to be agreed in October rather than December.
12. Deal with unwanted gifts promptly.Return, regift or donate in January rather than putting them in a cupboard. Returns windows close and resale value falls sharply after the first few weeks.
13. Recycle the tree properly.Most councils collect real trees in January or take them at recycling centres, and many charities collect for a donation. A tree beside the bin is usually not taken.
14. Sort the batteries and packaging.Batteries go to a collection point, never in household waste where they start fires in bin lorries. Large cardboard boxes go flat into recycling rather than filling a bin.

Tips

• The scrunch test is the single most useful thing to know, and almost nobody does. It takes a second and resolves the whole wrapping paper question.
• Buy the vegetables and the fresh things later than feels comfortable. The shops reopen quickly and most Christmas food waste is bought a week early.
• Keep a box for reusable wrapping in the loft. It fills itself over a couple of years and removes an annual purchase.

Common mistakes

• Putting glitter or foil wrapping paper in recycling — It cannot be recycled and it contaminates the paper stream, which can cause a whole batch to be rejected. The scrunch test tells you in a second.
• Shopping as though the shops will close for a fortnight — They reopen within a day or two. Buying for a siege is the largest single cause of Christmas food waste.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask