Ethical Christmas: We're dreaming of a green Christmas

With just 10 days to go to Christmas, families all over the country will be putting up their final decorations, and getting down to some serious Christmas shopping this weekend, spending millions of pounds in preparation for the biggest holiday in the British calendar.

The side effect of Christmas, however, is that it has become the worst time of year for waste with households usually buying too much food, wasting reams of paper on cards and wrapping and, ultimately, wasting money that does not need to be spent. Taking some time to think about the environment, and others, at Christmas can prove soothing both for your eco-conscience and for your wallet.

Cards and decorations

If you haven't got round to decorating your house or sending out your Christmas cards yet, then there's still time to turn over a new, eco-friendly, leaf before you get going this year.

While many people feel the urge to splurge on lots of new decorations for their house each year, it's worth remembering that many of the mass-produced items you find on the high street are made of non-biodegradable products, which can't be easily recycled.

If you can't resist the temptation to buy new decorations this Christmas, try going for more natural products, such as real (rather than plastic) holly, which can be composted after the festive season is over.

Alternatively, try making your own paper decorations to hang on the tree and around the house making sure to recycle them in January, of course.

According to Friends of the Earth, we send well over 700 million Christmas cards in the UK every year. If all of these were recycled it would help to save almost 250,000 trees. Ultimately the best course of action, both from an environmental and money-saving perspective, is to stop sending Christmas cards, and to start sending a Christmas e-mail instead.

But if you can't resist the old tradition of sending proper cards, then make sure you buy them from a charity, to guarantee that the proceeds go to good causes. Finally, be sure to recycle any cards that you receive.

Ethical presents

If you're struggling for gift ideas this Christmas, it's well worth exploring the growing number of ethical and eco-friendly options on offer, which give something back to the planet as well as to the recipient.

For example, for as little as 10, you can dedicate a tree to a family member via websites such as www.carbonneutral.com and www.woodland-trust.org.uk. You'll receive a certificate testifying that a tree has been dedicated to whoever you want it to be, and both you and the recipient can share in the knowledge that you're supporting the crucial business of keeping the world's forests alive.

In a similar vein, you could choose to sponsor an endangered animal, such as a panda or polar bear, via the WWF (www.wwf.org.uk) or even sponsor a child in a developing country, via charities such as Save The Children (www.savethechildren.org.uk) or Action Aid (www.actionaid.org.uk). These programmes provide regular updates about how your child is doing, and you can even correspond with them.

If you're looking for something more tangible, but still eco-friendly, to give to your loved ones on Christmas Day, websites such as www.carbonneutral.com and www.ethicalgifts.co.uk might provide you with some ideas. Some of the gifts available from the Carbon Neutral company for under 20 include a water-powered calculator, and a wind-up radio.

Or for a bit more money, you can get your hands on organic cosmetics packs or a solar-powered mobile phone. Even if you're buying regular gifts for Christmas, try to make sure you buy from a fair-trade retailer. Websites such as www.getethical.co.uk feature everything from clothing to sports gear, and all the manufacturers are screened for business practices and product quality, before their goods can be featured on the site.

If you are buying gifts that need wrapping, why not consider using old newspaper, or brown paper which does not contain all the toxins that are contained in the expensive gift-wrap that you'll find down the shops. Furthermore, be sure to recycle any gift-wrap that you're left with on Christmas Day.

If you're feeling generous, you might also consider buying a Christmas gift for those less fortunate than yourself. Websites such as www.practicalpresents.org allow you to buy a goat, or clean water for a family in the developing world, while www.oxfam.org.uk gives you the chance to buy school dinners for 100 children.

Finally, if you're forced to shop on credit cards this Christmas, why not consider using a charity card, where a proportion of all your spending will go to charity. The Comic Relief Visa card, for example, gives 0.5 per cent of everything you spend to the charity. To find a list of the best charity donation credit cards, visit www.moneyfacts.co.uk.

If you've got the discipline, you may find that you can give more to charity by taking out a cashback card and passing on the cashback to charity.

The best of these cards on the market, such as the American Express Platinum and Capital One Cashback card, pay you 1 per cent of everything you spend and have even higher rates of cashback during the first few months.

If you add Gift Aid to this, you'll end up making much more sizeable charity donations than you would with a straightforward donation card. But, you have to do a bit more work yourself.

Food

When it comes to getting in the big shop for Christmas Day, why not try buying from local shops that grow or make their produce in your local region as opposed to the big supermarkets, most of whom fly produce in from across the world, giving their food a rather high carbon footprint.

Friends of the Earth advises doing simple things like forgoing a bag when you buy loose vegetables, and starting up a compost bin to put all your natural leftovers into. This can then be used to provide nutrients for the soil in your garden.

Buying fair-trade brands is also a worthy way of helping ensure workers are treated fairly across the world. The Fairtrade Foundationwebsite, www.fairtrade.org.uk provides a list of all products which are branded under the Fairtrade logo, and where you can buy them from.

Finally, Britons are notorious for wasting food at Christmas. Households regularly buy a turkey that is far too big, or buy far too much other food, only to throw much of it away once it is cooked. Try working out exactly what you need before you hit the shops, and be sure to waste as little as you can.

Volunteering

If you're not tied to any family commitments this Christmas (or want to find a way of escaping them), why not consider giving up some of your time to help one of the many British homeless charities.

Crisis, the homeless charity, sets up a number of shelters in London between the 23 and 30 December each year, to provide people on the streets with some respite over the holiday period. The shelters provide everything from a warm bed to medical assistance to hairdressing and clothes repairs all provided by the thousands of people who volunteer and help out at the centres.

You don't have to have any special skills to help out, however. It's an enormous operation, and the charity is always looking for as many volunteers as it can lay its hands on. To find out more, or top apply, visit www.crisis.org.uk.

There are many similar schemes run on a smaller basis across the country. Caring at Christmas (www.caringatchristmas.org.uk), for example, offers shelter for the homeless in Bristol, while both the Salvation Army (www.salvationarmy.org.uk) and Age Concern (www.ageconcern.org.uk) also have projects all around the country.

Friends of the Earth's top tips for an ethical Christmas

* Make personalised favour vouchers to give to your loved ones. These could promise breakfast in bed, help in the garden, or even to do the washing for a week.

* Help wildlife and practice your DIY skills by making a birdbox as a gift.

* As a nation we chuck out 125,000 tons of plastic packaging at Christmas. Choose things with as little packaging as possible and recycle where you can.

* Instead of buying products, treat your loved ones to a special experience, such as a cookery course or a spa weekend.

* For budding eco-enthusiasts, Save Cash and Save the Planet, published by Friends of the Earth, is packed with ideas on how you can save money and the planet (www.savecashsaveplanet.co.uk).

* Go retro: try flea markets, antique jewellery and vintage clothing shops for second-hand gifts. You'll be giving a unique present, as well as recycling.

* Encourage composting: buy your green-fingered friends a wormery.

* Buy a Standby Buster, a remote-controlled electrical socket that lets you switch appliances off completely so that they use no electricity. Leaving them on standby costs money and creates CO2 emissions. www.standbybuster.com

* Buy download vouchers instead of CDs.

* Dedicate a tree to someone with the Woodland Trust (www.woodland-trust.org.uk).

* Buy your food from a local market, to help the local economy and cut down on food miles.

* The aluminium foil we use for cooking would reach from here to the North Pole and back 52 times. Reuse or recycle it.

* The average family throws away a third of all the food they buy. Save some cash by planning menus in advance.

* Don't waste money on wrapping-paper. Use old magazines or newspapers instead. Personalise your presents by choosing pictures to make your friends and family laugh.

* Keep your Christmas cards from one year to the next and turn them into free festive name tags for your gifts.

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