Let’s have a green Christmas

Let’s have a green Christmas

By Brendan Grehan

IT’S THAT time of year when we tend to over indulge and generate a lot of excess waste.

It is a wonderful time of year but in the midst of the celebrations we can often forget about the environment and waste prevention.  

christmas wrapping paperd

The disposal of unused food reaches a peak over Christmas so here are a few tips to help you avoid wasting food and money:

  1. Serve food in bowls rather than dishing up on plates. This way the leftovers can be easily used
  2. Keep children’s portion sizes appropriate, for additional information on this look at the  HSE publication “what is a serving size” on  www.safefood.eu
  3. Go against tradition! If there is something on the Christmas menu that nobody really likes or more probable that no one has room for, why not leave it out this year.
  4. Pay particular attention when planning parties or dinners for guests. Try to limit the amount of quickly perishable foods served on the night to what you know will be used. Unlike other times of the year, leftovers from a party are a hard sell when a house is full of “goodies”. Have some non-perishable snacks in stock which can remain unopened until the perishable items are used.

For recipes on how to use all your unused food at Christmas visit www.stopfoodwaste.ie and download, for free, their 12 Days of Christmas Recipes.

Every year each household generates an estimated 124 kilograms of packaging.

There is a lot of extra packaging waste over the Christmas period. So this Christmas South Dublin County Council is encouraging everyone to prevent (as much as possible), reduce and recycle their festive packaging.

Materials can be recycled at the following locations

TAGS
Share This