As the end of the year approaches, people around the world are busy planning a celebration and fun things to do with friends and family. Christmas and New Year are times for celebrating together with merry parties. Festive decorations, presents, food, and other ornaments enliven the celebration but often end up being trash and unpleasant for our environment.

But it is not difficult to make some changes and reduce the environmental impact because this celebration should not have to be a burden for the earth. We can always make Christmas even better by being aware of our impacts. Reduce waste, use compostable materials, and recycle whenever possible. 

These 7 eco-friendly ways can help us to celebrate the Christmas and New Year seasons while caring for the earth. 

A Live Tree  

Celebrating Christmas and New Year might not be complete without a pine tree as part of the decorations. Using a live pine tree is the best option to reduce carbon footprint compared to the artificial tree or a cut-down real pine tree. You can use a pine tree planted in a pot or plant it outside the room to help absorb carbon dioxide. 

Eco-friendly Decorations 

Christmas and New Year decorations and ornaments are beautiful but often made from plastic and undegradable material. Instead of buying new ornaments, reusing last year’s decorations, or creating decorations and ornaments from reusable and eco-friendly materials will be the best choice to reduce undegradable waste.

You can also make your own eco-friendly ornaments. They can be from recycled materials like dried oranges, dried pine fruits, origami ornaments from the newspaper or reused paper, or also hang cookies on the tree.

Minimize the Energy Usage for Lighting  

To reduce the energy during Christmas and New Year celebrations, you can choose solar-powered lights and eco-friendly candles made from soya, vegetable oil, or beeswax to complete the decorations. Also, make sure to keep the energy usage at a minimum by switching off the light when it is not in use.  

Avoid Non-recyclable Single-use Table Ware 

If you host a party or gathering to celebrate Christmas and New Year, avoid using single-use table ware. Minimize the use of glasses, plates, and cutlery made from undegradable materials like plastics, styrofoam, and paper coated with plastics as much as you can. Alternatively, you can ask your guest to bring their own plates, glasses, or water bottles.  

Avoid Food Waste 

Enjoying delicious and varied food is the best way to celebrate Christmas and New Year. But it is important to make plans and estimate how much food you need for the celebration. Always try to cut any food waste and use up those leftovers. 

Less Gift Wrap or Use Recycled Paper to Wrap  

Gifting is always fun to do during Christmas and New Year seasons. And it comes with tons of wrapping paper and plastic which always end up as trash. Compared to wrapping gifts with wrapping paper that contains glitter, plastic, or metallic finish that is harmful to the environment, using recycled wrapping paper is a better option. You can also use newspapers to wrap your gifts and decorate them with reusable items. To reduce using gift wrap, you can give a gift of an experience like cooking a special meal or a tutorial. Digital gifts like e-books, music apps, or movie apps subscriptions are also great options. You can also gift alive trees through Trees4Trees. 

Eco-friendly Gift  

Choose an eco-friendly gift for your loved ones as a Christmas and New Year presents. You can buy a long-lasting or second-hand product, DIY handcrafted, or things made from sustainably sourced materials. You can also gift a potted plant or gift an alive tree through Trees4trees. The tree you gift to your loved ones will contribute to improve  the environment and help the local community where it is planted. 

Learn more to know how you can gift trees for Christmas and New Year gifts to your loved ones: Give Trees as a Gift to Your Loved Ones