Eco-friendly ideas for Christmas Cards

CHRISTMAS CARDS - THE FACTS:

  • An estimated 1.5 billion Christmas cards are chucked away each year.

  • If we placed all Christmas cards we sent alongside each other, they’d cover the world’s circumference 500 times.

  • The paper wasted over the Christmas period (not just cards, but wrapping and packaging) is estimated to the equivalent of 5-12 million litres of biofuel – enough to power a bus to go to the moon 20 times.

IDEAS FOR SUSTAINABLE CHRISTMAS CARDS

GO DIGITAL: Customise your own e-card for Christmas. Add music, animation and personalise it too on Green Envelope.

GET CERTIFIED: If you love writing and sending cards or there’s family and friends who aren’t digitally savvy then there’s still ethical ways of doing it. Look out for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) certification. It will say on the box and on the reverse of the cards if they are certified. This accreditation is important because it ensures the paper used has been sustainably and ethically produced and you won’t find any glitter either - as this makes most card non recyclable.

SUPPORT LOCAL COMMUNITIES INITIATIVES: Local Bangladeshi women from the Sreepur Village Outreach Project https://www.sreepurvillage.org make hand-crafted charity cards from locally sourced, natural materials. They have Fair Trade recognition and all the women are able to work from home to help with childcare management. 100% of all profits from sales are reinvested back into the Sreepur Village, a safe home for destitute women and children in rural Bangladesh. A cause worth supporting just by sending a Christmas cards.

Lizzie CarrComment