AIBU to wonder what needs to happen to cut down on Christmas waste?

[bbcessex]

Just had another Christmas here with extended family; really lovely couple of days, but tonnes of ‘token’ presents in addition to main presents; huge amount of food waste. Big pressure, lots of money spent, I feel, as always, we would have just as good a time without the friff.

I’ve seen lots of threads where people don’t want the excess, but the expectation / pressure on them to conform is immense.

I would LOVE to cut back and will begin to bring the family round to my way of thinking.

Does anyone else think the general public is starting to turn away from enforced & excessive consumption, and so, what needs to happen for it to catch on?

Slightly. But there is a long way to go.

Talk to your circle of friends and family and agree not to do the “friff”.

Make it special in other ways- play games, go for walks, eek out the presents.

We had no presents. It was hard to stick to but so worth it.

I agree with you.... i hate seeing the amount of token tat that gets bought which is only destined for landfill (most secret Santa gifts seem to fit this description). I was shocked to hear that some people even buy totally new decorations each year.

It will take a huge culture shift though, imo. There has been a slight increase in awareness of waste, but habits need to change on a large scale.

I think the tide is turning for a very small number of people but unfortunately many will still continue with the excess cos it’s Christmas innit. We cut back massively this year - kids had far fewer presents under the tree and for once played with them all. We exchanged nothing as we don’t need anything and asked family not to get us anything. We had a lovely Christmas. Could stand to cut down on food next year.

It is possible to have Xmas treats without food waste. A large roast can provide leftovers for a week or more, but people need to only add food to their plate if they intend to eat it. And people need to shop more realistically. There isn't any need to stock up as if the shops will be closed for a month.

We've done Secret Santa for the adults for the last couple of years. If you can get people on board it's really good- one present to buy, one to receive, set your budget and it makes it all much more 'spirit of Christmas'- because you can actually do a decent job of buying one good, meaningful thing.

It needs celebrities to promote less consumption

Sadly I think the only thing that could turn the tide would be a catastrophic incident before the build up begins which would stop the shops promoting Christmas from so early and distract people from consuming so much.

I really do want less excess next year. Its not about the actual amount spent; its spending for
spending’s sake.

I am definitely going to start socialising the idea with family.. would help if there was a general movement to help back me up too!!

this year i bought less food portioned up and froze the left over meat, i give my grandchildren money for christmas so they can do what they like with it, smaller presents for the kids who are mine and their partners, only buy for a couple of work colleagues, i dont buy christmas cards, my total food waste has been half a bowl of mashed potato from boxing day i forgot it was there and its gone over two days old

I've only bought food and drink for token gifts this year. Still unnecessary but at least it will get used rather than being sent straight to the charity shop or stuck in the bin.
I want to get to a stage where we don't do this either but it's a work in progress.

We’ve already agreed a family secret Santa for next year - Instead of spending £10-£40 on 15 different people, we’ll each pick a name from a hat and spend £50 on 1 person. One decent present from one person rather than loads of tat from loads of people.

Next year I’m buying ALL the food. We host and It’s great that parents and in-laws want to bring stuff but my parents brought desserts for 18 people and there were only 8 of us for actual dinner this year. In-laws bought a turkey to feed at least 12 people as well as gammon.

p.s. I haven't had any food waste. I've cut back massively on the amount of food I buy because I know what bits will be eaten and what bits left so I only but what I know will go.

My side do no presents for adults and have done for a few years now.

We ate all the leftovers do no food waste.

Dh has been trying to get his family to follow suit presents wise but no luck.

They represent the majority I suppose.

Agree that it will need a celebrity (or many) to get on board and promote for it to stand a chance to gain popularity.

I would happily donate x percent of spend to a homeless charity / foodbank (over & above normal contributions).

Every fucking year I feel the same. Dh and I are quite sensible, but every year my mother insists on doing all of us stockings (dh, me, my sister, plus the kids) as well as main gifts and every year she says how hard she finds it to fill them. And every year we say 'no please don't, we don't need stockings/we are old/the kids get them from father Christmas' over and over. Or I suggest that if she really wants to, then some socks/pants/PJ's/chocolates etc. But every year the kids especially get a whole sack full of random stuff bought to fill it. Plus gifts.

I get that she gets a lot of pleasure from doing it. But it is so unnecessary on so many levels. Growing up we only ever had one stocking, and adults certainly didn't so this is definitely more about fun for her than tradition per se. I can't see it changing, but when I either have to find homes for the random stuff in our small house, or secrete it away to a charity shop I start feeling resentful of being ignored again.

neverunderfed 👏👏 hear hear.

I completely agree. Why does someone else’s need to over-give trump my need to not receive well-meant things I don’t want?

We haven't done too badly this year.

Dd wanted mainly clothes and makeup. Ds had toys but decent ones he will play with for a year or 2 then be passed on. We stopped buying for nieces and nephews a few years ago as an extended family which cuts down on 'must buy something for X child on this budget' and my fil gave cash and I told my dm what they wanted.

Food wise we have done well so far. A portion of turkey will go in the bin tomorrow, the chickens had some left over veg and bread.

DH and I bought each other perfume/aftershave and pjs. Which we needed anyway.

But I have been gradually cutting down the last few years anyway. It was ds 5th birthday mid december. The amount of tat he got from his schoolfriends was unreal. A few asked what he wanted which was good. But the majority gifted random games/plastic toys. While he loved them all on the day and the week after they will likely end up either in the bin or charity shop by February. I am not being ungrateful or grabby or snobby, but I hate it.

We are at a birthday party tomorrow and for the first time I am putting money in a card I think. I don't really know the child, ds doesn't either and I expect he is overwhelmed with Christmas presents and its a whole class party so I don't want to add to landfill with a token gift.

What makes me sad is seeing the presents well meaning family buy not be appreciated by my DC. Not because my DC are spoilt by any means but because they’re not age suitable, not to their tastes etc. MIL is notoriously bad for buying lots of garish things the DC have no interest in so they end up in the charity shop... She buys similarly for DP and I, we also end up giving our gifts to the charity shop. I just wish she’d save her money in all honesty but neither of us have the heart to tell her.

As for food waste, I’ve got on top of that over the past couple of years. I used to buy waaaayy too much and feel really disappointed in myself when a hefty amount was thrown away. I now have learnt to only buy what is actually needed so there’s very little waste.

We cut back massively on food, we had 3 days of feasting and then went back to normal. So one pack of biscuits instead of a box, there is still room for improvement. I have frozen lots of leftovers inc cheese, cream, ham and turkey.

One sil stopped presents totally and everyone else just does usual stuff. I bought a large chunk of my dcs presents second hand.

We haven't bought new decorations in years and am unlikely to. Don't send xmas cards.

All in all a pretty low carbon xmas but I was still shocked at the amount of plastic packaging and rubbish we generated.

Still room for improvement mind!

I'm actually really happy about this Christmas.
Me and DP (no children) only bought presents to each other, my parents and his parents but only meaningful and useful presents which we knew for sure they NEED, want, and will use 100%.

We bought/cooked the perfect amount of food, we ate the last leftovers on the 27th, and not the fridge is pretty much empty, need to go grocery shopping.

We spent a fair amount of money, but no debt and amount that we felt comfortable with.

Our excess?

We bought a pack of yorkshire puddings, a panettone [both gluten free] and a couple of cards for the family.

and a few pressies that people actually wanted.

That was it. Keeps it simple.

It would be far better if everyone pitched in for Christmas dinner than buy random chocolates and sweets for the sake of it; that would reduce waste a fair bit and make hosting a bit fairer. But well planned of course so you don’t end up with loads of the same food!

I have issues with this too. My DH works in the local recycling/waste centre and he hates Christmas as his workload trebles throughout December and January waste with the pre and post Christmas clearout.

I've asked my family to just one gift but certain people never do so I to concentrate more on what we can do at home ourselves rather than worrying about everyone else.

I gave vouchers (although I wish I could get paper instead of plastic cards!) and cash to family and DH and I booked a few days away instead of a physical gift. The kids got less in general and 99% of what they got was useful, consumable, second hand or genuinely wanted so there has been less waste.

I bought huge rolls of wrapping paper last year and will probably have enough for next year but after that it will be brown paper and recyclable tape for us although I might let DD loose with pens for a splash of colour!

As for dinner, we bought less and I meal planned for leftovers so none of it has gone to waste. I also didn't do Christmas crackers which no one cared about and we reuse decorations although I do have a plastic tree which I guess is frowned upon by some. It's our third year with it and hope to get at least 10 years out of it!

We did have excess food but we've eaten it! Made left over roast veg into soup, ate cold turkey with pickles and have one portion of turkey ready in the freezer.

Still got some mince pies but merrily eating my way through those! Cheese bought with a long date so also eating that!

Presents not so good, the stockings I did were ok but my children got loads of stuff from aunts and uncles which they don't need.

They've a big present from their grandparents though so no tat there!

Every year when I go into b&m, home bargains etc I see the aisles of crap and feel horrified at the amount of packaging and tasteless crap.