Here's how to have an eco-friendly holiday for the 2022 season

With the holiday season underway, London's curbside waste is expected to nearly double in weight compared to the rest of the year. 

Leftover food and excess gift packaging is largely to blame. Luckily, there are a growing number of environmentally friendly ways to celebrate. 

"In many cases, buying locally at a store is better," said Jay Stanford, the city's director of climate change, environment and waste management. "We just hope that recycling ends up where it should." 

He's reminding Londoners that clementine boxes and soiled paper plates belong in the garbage instead of the blue box. Used batteries need to go to a waste depot, and Christmas trees are better left as compost in the backyard, if possible. Oftentimes, plastic bags can be recycled through retailers. 

Here's what some local eco-friendly business owners also suggest you can do to reduce your environmental footprint this year. 

Creative alternatives to gift wrapping 

There is an increasing interest from customers in using fabric or beeswax wraps as an alternative to traditional wrapping paper, said Michaelanne Hathaway, owner of Stache, Fabrics & Notions in downtown London. The store specializes in supplies for quilters and sewers. 

Crafters who frequent the store come in with plans to use Korean or Japanese methods of fabric wrapping, or making reusable gift bags. If they don't know how to sew, they can sign up for lessons to learn. 

"Everything that is old is new again, is what I'm seeing," said Hathaway. 

"Here in the shop, people are coming back to quilting, which is another reusable thing. You're making it yourself as opposed to going to the store and buying a polyester blanket. We're definitely seeing people buying fabric to make gift bags and wrapping and reusable snack bags." 

Consider fair trade shopping 

Fair trade shopping is another eco-friendly option gaining momentum in London, according to Jenn Jack, owner of Magpie's Collected Creations at the Covent Garden Market. The store works directly with 30 women's co-operates throughout India and Nepal. 

By choosing to go fair trade, shoppers buy high quality handmade goods constructed with traditional methods. The artists, who are often women, get recognition for their work and are empowered to operate their business on their own terms. 

"They use everything that they possibly have, so it's upcycled, recycled, reusable packaging," said Jack. "It's not all plastics and it's all repurposing because when things are a little scarce you have to use what you have on hand. You have to be a little bit more creative and that really shows through on using whole products and using things from start to finish rather than leaving all of this scrap and waste." 

Give the gift of experiences 

When all else fails, one of the best ways to reduce holiday waste is to give the gift of experience, said Kara Rijnen, owner of Reimagine Co. Experiential gifts could come in the form of pre-paid classes in a new skill or hobby, show tickets or gift cards for restaurants. 

"I think that's so much more meaningful than giving someone something," said Rijnen. 

"That being said, I also know that it's very ingrained in our mind to, when you go over to someone's house for Christmas, to be taking something with you. So, the next best thing I would say is to hit up one of the holiday markets." 

Products purchased from holiday markets are locally sourced and tend to come in recyclable packaging. No matter what route a shopper takes, Rijnen recommends considering the different levels of sustainability for each gift, with landfill disposal being the worst and compostability being the best once it's lost its usefulness. 

"If we want our kids and our grandkids and our great-grandkids to not be completely surrounded by plastic, we really need to think about the end of life of the products that we're buying," she said.

An even better alternative? Spending quality time with loved ones, said Rijnen.  

"Think how meaningful that is to take someone and take them out for lunch or you know, pay attention to what they like doing and go do that with them," she said. "I would love to see the holidays become less about giving of things and more about giving of ourselves."