20 pledges for 2020: Why a green Christmas is a cheap one

I’m staring at our Christmas tree wondering what to do with it. 

Not because we’re those people who put their tree up in October - though this year zero judgement if that’s what you need to do - but because it has been in the garden for twelve months. And to be honest, it is looking a bit neglected.

We’ve had a pot grown Christmas tree for a few years now and it looks like this year more and more people are doing the same. We don’t need to chop yet another tree down every year, it gives an otherwise pretty barren garden some greenery during the winter and, best of all we only pay for it once. 

There’s a perception of privilege that hangs over the idea of being environmentally friendly but if I’ve learned one thing this year, it’s that being greener and saving money go hand in hand, in virtually all things. 

Whether it’s reusing stuff, buying second hand or - my personal lazy favourite - buying nothing at all, few things quantitatively reinforce our commitment to keep finding ways to do better than the ability to sit back in January and see that we’ve spent less on Christmas this year than we ever did before going zero waste. 

And it hasn’t been that hard either. Mostly. 

There are the immediate wins, like not bothering with Christmas crackers. Especially because it will be ‘just us’ this Christmas as we’re a clinically very vulnerable household and I don’t see that miraculous 95 per center getting to us before the 25th, it has been a very easy tradition to break, not least because one survey last year reported that 99 per cent of all Christmas cracker contents are in the bin by the end of the day. 

That means that people are buying crackers at a minimum of £10 a box, for the contents to go into the bin after roughly four hours. Indeed the manufacturers make those items with that immediate throwaway in mind. What level of craziness is that to uphold just because it is tradition? I’ll spend the cash on better items for the kids thanks. 

Speaking of which we’re continuing our own tradition of an all secondhand festive season this year. From the kids toys, clothes for their cousins and a ‘new’ water bottle for the other half (I know, I’m so good to him) right down to the wrapping, if it is a purchase the deal is it has to have been used before. 

It saves us a fortune, presents look way more interesting if they come wrapped in a scarf that serves as a bonus gift and we can secure items of far better quality for the price. 

The kids are all over their own gift planning, which at age six and three, is mostly about making cards and decorations and we’ve been stocking up the cupboards through the year with things in jars to hand over or stuff in the bottom of stockings. 

It has been fun and cheap and, as we approach our fourth zero waste Christmas, friends and family are getting in on it too. Last year we threw away a single handful of plastic-based tape as the people around us really started to take our approach as something more than a brief fad. I can’t wait to see what they come up with this year.

But all those things pale in comparison with the concerted effort among everyone we know to tone it down this year. We just don’t need stuff. None of us. 

Last year the UK collectively threw away £46m of brand new gifts they didn’t want without a single use. That’s not sending them to the charity shop of stuffing them in a cupboard, that’s straight in the bin. 

It suggests that this shift towards a smaller gift list with fewer ‘making up the numbers’ presents will surely have the greatest eco impact of the lot. And anyway, it’s definitely the right year to focus on people and quality of time above all else.

It has been an unexpectedly emotional tradition to break though. We want our children to have magical memories of Christmas, to anticipate and sometimes even receive those things they really, really want.

Last year, as we gently asked our own parents not only to steer away from the plastic and synthetics - gifts as well as packaging - but to also cut down on the sheer scale of Christmas. My mother-in-law cried when the much shorter period of grandchildren unwrapping gifts was suddenly over. I understood why.

I bloody love presents. Finding the right thing for the right person is one of the best feelings, but I always overdid it in years gone by and the credit card held the proof. But for the first time in my adult life, it was empty going into January 2020. 

We’ll try again this year to stick to the “Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read” rule, knowing we’ll go over just a little. 

First world challenge though it may be not to drown our children in stuff even if it is simply because we love them so very very much,  the freedom that debt-free feeling will give us to enjoy all the days that aren’t Christmas will hopefully help us steer clear. 

I’m pretty sure they’ll still know its Christmas.