Christmas is the time get festive, string up decorations, and feast on a few snacks and dishes you might usually resist. It's a time for fun, family, and often excess – this means Christmas is also a time to be mindful of the environmental impact we can make while celebrating.
For example, every year Christmas creates millions of tonnes of waste. Here at Co-op Childcare, we like to teach our little ones how we can better look after the planet through activities like our Eco-Schools England work.
To help you take this ethos home too we've put together a guide to a more eco-friendly Christmas, so that you and your young ones can enjoy the season in a more sustainable way.
By following a few simple tips, we can all learn to help the environment this festive season. So let's start December the way we mean to go on!
Why have an Eco-friendly Christmas?
Social responsibility is at the heart of what we do here at Co-op Childcare. Our Little Pioneers help teach our children all about our values as a Co-operative, with Ebo teaching our little ones the importance of looking after the world around us – from fair trade to recycling.
Whatever your age, taking care of the world around us is a really important cause! So why not involve your little ones this Christmas in making a difference, and help practically show them a little bit more about social responsibility – your actions this festive season could help make that big word a lot easier to understand!
Involving your little ones in more sustainable choices
From our experience, your little ones will notice the environmental impact of the festive season more than you think. Our Eco-Schools Pre-School committees in our nurseries are making a big impact in their nursery environment and local community, working on making a difference in a wide variety of areas; reducing the use of single use plastic, litter picking and more.
Having been given the chance to care for the planet, our little ones have loved taking this ethos home, often asking their parents to consider hessian bags instead of plastic ones or making bird feeders out of recycled materials as presents for their grandparents. Helping your child understand the reasoning behind your eco-friendly choices this Christmas will help further their understanding of why we should care for our planet.
So how do I have a sustainable Christmas?
We're glad you asked. There are lots of ways to do this, but the main focus should be reducing your waste and making use of recycled, or natural, materials wherever you can. We've put together a few simple ideas around the four main areas that are almost definitely on your December to-do list.
