Christmas waste

So, Christmas trees – real or artificial? While most people prefer the aesthetic of a natural tree in the living room (except, perhaps for those with allergies), the carbon footprint of the options differs significantly. The Carbon Trust reports that a 2m tree that is felled from a forest that ends up as wood chips or on a bonfire after Christmas has a carbon footprint of 3.5kg of CO2e. If that tree is sent to landfill, then the carbon footprint increases to 16kg of CO2e. In contrast, the same size artificial tree (usually PVC and metal) has an estimated carbon footprint of 40kg of CO2e. So an artificial tree must be used for 12 years to make it greener than a natural tree that is chipped or burnt.
What about Christmas wrapping paper and cards? The UK is estimated to use about 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each Christmas, enough to stretch nine times around the world, and some 1 billion Christmas cards (equivalent of 33 million trees). In the US, around 2 billion holiday cards are sent each year, enough to fill a football field with paper stacked ten stories high. Canada is estimated to use 540,000 tonnes of wrapping paper each festive season and to send 2.6 billion cards. With 1kg of paper generating 3.5kg of CO2 during production, the global carbon footprint of wrapping and cards is significant. The overall environmental impact will depend, of course, on how much of this material is recycled. The recycling rate for paper and cardboard for the UK and the US is 79% and 65%, respectively, so there is scope for further reducing the environmental footprint.
Food waste is another major environmental issue over the festive season. What happens to all the food that we don’t eat? According to one estimate, around 54...

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