Twelfth night has been and gone so everyone should have taken their decorations down and be left with a bare house and a full recycling bin, am I right!? Since the basis behind the LMH blog is to be more sustainable within our homes and our lifestyles I wanted to share some tips on recycling christmas a little bit more creatively than just sending it all to the recycling centre (inevitably some items will end up there but it doesn’t need to be everything).
Christmas Trees
Our local nature reserve collects christmas trees and uses them to maintain borders and fences to keep the walkways safe and clear. Our local drop off centre is Keelham Farm Shop but thee are many similar projects up and down the country (such as this one which raises money for Martin House Hospice.
Spirit/Wine Bottles
A good wine or spirit bottle should NEVER end up in the recycling bin, they’re way too stylish and versatile for that. Use as candleholders as I did in the image above for our New Years Eve family dinner or they look equally as lovely with a couple of stems of seasonal flowers in. There are so many different ways to make this idea fit your home decor, strip the labels for a minimalist feel or even spray paint them to add some colour, Pinterest have some great ideas.
Christmas Cards
Christmas cards, as beautiful as they are seem such a waste when they’re either thrown out or stashed in the loft depending on how much of a hoarder you are. One thing I did notice on the high street this year was how expensive christmas gift bags were (attractive ones came in at near £5 for a medium one…my budget doesn’t stretch to that). This idea from Pinterest really stood out, it’s such an easy but effective little upcycle, simply stick the front of a christmas card onto a recycled paper bag, look how great they look?! Ad each one will be unique (I’m going to put a reminder in my planner to use this idea for Christmas 2018).
And finally batteries
A boring one to end with I know but batteries in general waste really doesn’t sit easy with me for numerous reasons, contamination from their harmful chemicals being the main reason. It is SO easy to recycle your batteries from all of those fairy lights and new christmas toys. The Co op, Homebase and Sainsburys all have in store battery recycling containers and we all pass/use one of those regularly don’t we?
If you’ve any interesting ways of recycling all of the leftover Christmas bits and bbs I’d love to hear them.
Natalie x
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