Christmas is a time to spend with friends and family, but it’s also the time when we over-indulge. So lets get Christmas waste busting and reduce the rubbish we produce in Christmas 2025. December and January create the most waste of all the months of the year because of Christmas over indulgence and buying too much. Whether it’s lots of packaging from our Christmas parcels, the amount of wrapping paper we use, or what is left behind after a house full of visitors, the rubbish created can be huge! Here are our 12 days of Waste busting Christmas to get you reducing and recycling this Christmas. Share with us your waste busting tips.
12 days of Waste busting Christmas
Day 1: Meal plan & use leftovers
Buy what you need for your holiday celebrations. So write a meal plan and a shopping list and this will avoid over-purchasing, which leads to wastage.
For some great tips here Christmas Food Planning: How to Feast Smart and Spend Less from Love Food Hate Waste.
If you do end up with leftovers, lots of Christmas Leftover Recipes from BBC.
- Left over turkey and ham pie
- Leftover root vegetable frittata
- Turkey curry
- Ultimate festive cheese toasty
- Winter vegetable curry
Day 2: Put your festive scraps in the food caddy
Make the most of the Ealing Council food recycling doorstep collections. Recycling food waste is environmentally friendly, and it’s cheaper for Ealing council to handle scraps from the food waste recycling bin than the rubbish bin.
Don’t throw the scraps in the black bin, put them in a green kitchen caddy for Ealing council doorstep collection.
Yes please
- vegetables
- bread and pastries
- dairy, fish and egg shells
- fruit and vegetable peelings
- leftovers and plate scrapings
- meat and bones
- tea bags and coffee grounds
For full details go to Ealing food recycling doorstep collections.
If you need a new or replacement outdoor food waste bin, you can order a new one for free.
Day 3: Use reusable fabric wraps and drawstring bags
The packaging paper we consume every year is the same in weight to 124 London Eye’s. So lets get reducing this pile of paper by using fabric.
Save gift bags and use fabric for wrapping presents using fabric wraps and bags.
For using fabric wraps and bags, find out more Sustainable wins: Fabric Wrapping from Ealing Repair café.
This brilliant guide from Fabcycle to easy Furoshiki wraps, using a square of fabric, such as napkins or scarfs Furoshiki gift wrap alternative.
Day 4: Hire a real Christmas tree
Get a Real Christmas tree from London Christmas Tree Rental.
Real Christmas tree are 100% natural and if potted can be used year after year.
If you get a cut real Christmas tree, they can be recycled. Many of them are turned into chippings for parks. Ealing has offers doorstep collection or drop-off points. For full details Recycling your real Christmas tree.
Artificial trees can’t be recycled, but they can be reused! As artificial trees are often made of plastic it means they are difficult to recycle, but you can keep it stored away and bring it out every Christmas or pass them on for others to enjoy them.
Day 5: Give the gift of borrowing with a Library of Things gift card
Perfect for budding DIY-ers, makers, adventurers and last-minute gifters, give a Library of Things gift card, where they can borrow any item, including a steam cleaner, a PA system or a sewing machine. There is a wide selection of items available to hire.
With a Library of Things gift voucher, your recipient can hire everything from pressure washers to waffle makers, without the price tag, packaging waste or added storage stress linked with buying new stuff.
Practical, thoughtful, and waste-free, Library of Things gift vouchers are perfect for Christmas gifting and secret Santa’s as well as birthdays, house warming gifts and special occasions.
Day 6: Recycle Christmas mince pie cases
Recycling just 6 mince pie foil cases and save enough energy that powers watching the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, so put them in the recycling blue bin. To find out what else you can recycle at Christmas see Recycling in Ealing.
Foil items can be recycled. This includes:
- foil food trays
- barbeque trays
- takeaway containers
- kitchen foil
Recycling them is simple.
- Wipe or dip foil trays in washing up water to remove any crumbs or food residue.
- Scrunch kitchen foil, aluminium pot lids and wrappers together to form a ball – the bigger the better is easier to recycle.
Also if you are feeling creative mince pie cases into great upcycled decorations.
Day 7: Repair before you replace
Is your favourite jumper or jeans looking a bit worn? Mend instead of tossing! Repairing clothes helps the planet and keeps your festive style intact.
On average, each person in the UK throws 35 items of unwanted textiles straight into general waste every year.
The UK bought 1.42 million tonnes of textiles in 2022. In the same year, we generated almost exactly the same amount of clothes we got rid of 1.45 million tonnes of used textiles.
Get advice and guides from Ealing Repair Cafe.
Day 8: Recycle your small electrical items
Christmas brings lots of electrical items as gifts. If you need to replace an electrical item with a new one, remember to dispose of them responsibly.
Any items that have a plug, use batteries, need charging or have a picture of a crossed-out wheelie bin on, are known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) need to be recycled instead of binned.
These items should not be sent to landfill and should be recycled at recycling centres, small electrical banks or via electrical retailers. Or if working, drop off to charity shops that accept electrical items.
Recycle your small electrical items
Small electrical items (e-waste) contain precious metals and resources which can be used to make new products. So do not place electrical items in your bin. There is a possibility that the batteries might cause a fire.
These small electrical items can be dropped off at:
- Fleming Road, Golflinks Estate, UB2 3LT
- Lady Margaret Road, UB1 2NP (opposite Neal Avenue)
- Greenford Road car park, Greenford Road, UB6 8QY (behind Tesco superstore)
- Bordars Road, W7 1AF (junction with Greenford Avenue)
- South Ealing Road, W5 4QT (opposite South Ealing station)
- Waitrose car park, Alexandria Road, W13 0NL
TRAID also offer a free home collections of unwanted small e-waste items. The items will be collected free of charge as long as you have at least one bag of unwanted clothes, shoes and textiles for collection.
Day 9: Make a Christmas list to avoid unwanted gifts
Giving gifts is one of the most popular ways people celebrate Christmas in the UK. However, you don’t always get what you want or will use. Of all purchases made for Christmas in the UK, only 1% will still be in use six months after the big day.
In this UK survey the worst gifts included:
- ugly Christmas jumper (15%).
- novelty or single-use items (26%),
- something people already have (22%),
- pair of socks (15%)
So make a Christmas list of suggestions to friends and families. Also ask others what they would like for Christmas.
The most popular and favourite gifts were sentimental gifts that show someone has really put some thought behind them.
Day 10: Give experiences not things
The act of gift-giving is a cherished tradition. Too many of the gifts we give (and receive) don’t bring the desired result: improving someone else’s life. So consider giving experiences over possessions.
Consider buying an experience such as:
- museum annual pass
- theatre ticket
- concert ticket
- cinema ticket
- gift token for dinner
Day 11: Get creative and give handmade gifts
Hunting for presents can be time-consuming and expensive. Who knew being thoughtful could be so exhausting?! Making gifts is more pleasurable than the pressure of Christmas shopping so it’s easier on you and the planet.
10 sustainable Christmas present ideas from Hubbub
Here are some edible homemade gifts from the BBC to get you started.
Day 12: Recycle your batteries responsibly
With Christmas comes lots of toys and gadgets that need batteries! Used batteries can be recycled at local supermarkets and shops. They should not be put in the black bin waste.
Which batteries can be recycled?
- All household batteries including ‘button’ batteries from watches.
- Battery packs from laptops, mobile phones, power tools and remote control units.
- Car batteries can also be recycled but only at designated collection points, not in your home recycling
To recycle them go to Recycle now to find your local drop off point. Do not put into the general rubbish as batteries can cause fires.
Even better than single use batteries, switch to rechargeable batteries to reduce electronic waste. A small change, but one that really counts! The initial price tag is higher, but the overall savings are very easy to add up. A rechargeable battery is on average, good for 700 recycles. Higher capacities and low self-discharge technology is increasing the time between charges and further improving the savings.
Christmas Waste Busting
We hope our 12 Christmas waste busting tips have inspired you, there are many more out there so please share your favorite waste busting tips with us.
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