Green Up Your Christmas Shopping List



Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009

by
Annie Deakin

Find out how to spoil your friends and family without the guilt this year.

Buy recycled
Buying products made of recycled materials is just as important as recycling itself. Look out for unusual products made from materials like glass tableware, stationery or photo frames. Check our recycled furniture and accessories by Farm, Biome Lifestyle and Natural Collection, among others and see our gifts for eco warriors.

Give an ethical hamper
Spread the organic love. Hampers are a great option for those hard-to-buy-for people, so why not opt for an organic or fair-trade one that will benefit the producers and the environment too? The Festive Organic hamper from Ethical Superstore packs a load of foodie treats into a handwoven basket. Compliment it with ethical homeware, like the Fair traid enamelled bowls from the Natural Collection and wow friends and family with your eco cred.

Don't lose your bloom
Think twice before you buy flowers. Not only do cut flowers create high carbon emissions because of the long distances they travel, they also release large amounts of harmful pesticide and fertiliser chemicals into the environment. In the UK, it's still a challenge to source organically-produced flowers (there is a selection at Waitrose) but check your local area for suppliers, or buy UK grown plants and flowers instead.

Keep it local
When it comes to food and drink, opt for seasonal and local choices, like butchers, greengrocers and farmer's markets. Not only does this cut down on food miles, but you're more likely to be able to buy your vegetables loose, which will also cut down on packaging (and it's likely to taste better, too). And when you serve your food, keep an eye on portion size and think before you shove it in the trolley.

Don't be a card
Seven hundred and fifty million Christmas cards are sent every year in the UK. If all these were recycled instead of thrown away, it would help to save the equivalent of 248,000 trees. When you're choosing cards, opt for charity and recycled cards like the First day of Christmas cards from Natural Collection. Then when you're done with them, recycle your cards through the Woodland Trust's Christmas Card Recycling Scheme. They need 100 million cards to get the funding to plant 24,000 trees.

Choose good chocolates
The production line resulting in a box of delicious chocolates can have unexpected environmental effects. Cocoa production not only has social issues, it can also contribute to loss of natural habitat in developing countries. One way to avoid problems is to buy certified organic, fair-trade chocolate, which is also lower in pesticide residues. Try the Fair chocolate truffles from John Lewis. For each packet sold, a donation goes to charity

Got everything?
For one-off gifts, buy vintage. Or treat people to an 'experience' - such as theatre tokens, annual membership of a gallery or a spa day - instead of a mass produced item.

Wood is good
Support British woodlands by buying woodland gifts from Coppice Products (see the Small Woodlands Association for more woodland information). Or think about buying gifts that will help the environment, like saving an acre of rainforest or buying your parents a bird-table for their garden. For children's presents like footballs and dolls, try to choose recycled or fair-trade.

Annie Deakin is an expert furniture and interior design writer who is currently interested in home office, coffee tables and cooker hoods

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