It’s beginning to look a lot like an environmental catastrophe

The environmental impact of Christmas.

Christmas is celebrated largely around many parts of the world. People drive home to their families, everything is being nicely decorated and a dozen of different cookies will be baked for this special holiday. Nevertheless, as cosy, and lovely Christmas might seem, it is taking a toll on the environment and here is why:

Christmas Trees

First on the list is the universally loved Christmas tree. Every year there is the decision to make whether one gets an artificial tree or a real one. Most people would probably say that the fake tree is the more sustainable choice to make since no trees have to be cut down and hence one fights against deforestation. Nevertheless, real trees are actually the more environmentally friendly option as they have a much lower carbon footprint. Real tress will produce around 16kg of carbon dioxide if they end up being thrown away and 3.5kg if they are being reused or recycled while as fake Christmas trees produce more than double the amount of carbon dioxide than real trees that end up in landfills. Therefore, in order to make up for the carbon dioxide emissions of one fake tree, it would be necessary to use it for more than 10 years.

Food

Also, what would be Christmas without the delicious food. However, the food is actually the main reason why Christmas is the most wasteful holiday. Roughly 80% is being eaten more than on average during the year and an average European household spends roughly €445 on food and drinks for their Christmas meals. However, not all of that has a happy ending as a delicious Christmas dinner, 230,000 tonnes of that amount of food is ending up in the bin. Therefore, Christmas food does not only add to the worldwide waste problem, but it also increases greenhouse gas emissions since most Christmas dinners are rather meat heavy.

Presents

Speaking of waste, gifts are an additional source of environmental harm. Especially the gift wrapping that often contains plastic and is therefore difficult to recycle. Every year, the UK alone, throws away around 365,000km of wrapping paper. This also adds to the greenhouse gas emissions as one kilogram of wrapping paper is responsible for three and a half kilogram of carbon dioxide. In addition to the wrapping paper, Christmas cards are another large source of waste. Annually, the UK is throwing away one billion cards. Moreover, the way how Christmas presents are being bought will influence the environment. Even though online shopping shows environmentally harmful aspects, it still only produces 181g of carbon dioxide per km if delivered successfully than a shopping trip by car to buy one specific item that would be responsible for 4,274g of carbon dioxide per km. In order to reduce the carbon emission of car trips for gift shopping, it would therefore be necessary to buy at least 24 items in one trip.

Back-home-trips

Lastly, as Christmas is considered a holiday for the family, many people will go back home. Nevertheless, this will also include an increased number of flights which emit a high amount of carbon dioxide. In fact, air travels are responsible for roughly 2.5% of the global greenhouse gas emissions.

Looking at all the factors mentioned above, it is time that we rethink the way we are celebrating the holiday we all enjoy so much and find ways to make it environmentally friendly. If you want to learn more about how to create your Christmas more sustainably, you can read out last blog post.

Sources:

Jessop, A., "Christmas Pollution: Why is it important to have an eco-friendly Christmas?", Commercialwaste, December 3, 2021, https://commercialwaste.trade/the-true-cost-of-christmas/, accessed 20 December 2021

Cotton, B., "Is Christmas ruining the environment?", Business Leader, December 8, 2021, https://www.businessleader.co.uk/is-christmas-ruining-the-environment/, accessed 20 December 2021

Schaart, E., "How Christmas is ruining the planet", Politico, December 23, 2019, https://www.politico.eu/article/how-christmas-is-ruining-the-planet/, accessed 20 December 2021

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