Here at Chesil Beach Lodge in Dorset, we are very proud of our eco-credentials and our sustainable holiday accommodation. We are firmly committed to reducing the impact of tourism on the environment, of course; but we are also committed to doing our best to be eco-friendly in every area of our lives.
We love Christmas, but there’s no doubt it’s potentially one of the most wasteful and un-environmentally friendly times of the year! We might not be guaranteed a white Christmas this year, but here are some of our favourite tips for helping to make your Christmas a green one.- Have a living Christmas tree. A tree in a pot can be re-used for several years, or planted in your garden if you have space. Why not try something completely different this year and rent a Christmas tree?! Dorset’s Christmas Tree Rental Company will deliver a tree of your choice to your door (with simple instructions on how to take care of it). After Christmas, on a date specified by you, they will collect your tree and look after it until next Christmas. You can even have the same tree back the following Christmas.
- If you’re not saving your Christmas tree for another year, check out your local council for chipping services and use the resulting mulch on your garden.
- Make your own Christmas cards.
- Make your own gifts: make special food products, knit a jumper, paint a picture, take a photograph of a favourite place and frame it, make a quilt, grow a plant or bulbs – the list is endless. If you have a skill why not share it and offer a few hours’ gardening, a massage, a makeover, or help designing a personal web site? What skills do you have that someone else would appreciate?
- Buy locally made and locally sourced products as presents.
- Find gifts that are recycled wherever possible. Jaxson’s Gifts in Bridport, Dorset offers a quirky and fun range of recycled gifts: from flat glass bottle clocks and flat champagne bottle platters; to recycled beer bottle fridge magnets and stationery made from recycled maps.
- Use recycled wrapping paper, or use imaginative alternatives such as fabric remnants or left-over rolls of wallpaper, pages from old magazines and newspapers, or your children’s pictures or paintings,
- Find alternatives to battery powered toys. Myriad Natural Toys and Crafts near Cranborne in Dorset has a wide range of environmentally friendly wooden toys, plus natural play products and art and craft materials.
- Minimise your use of outside electric lights and decorations or, even better, don’t use them at all.
- After Christmas, recycle or reuse your Christmas cards, wrapping paper and packaging. Recycle your cards via the Woodland Trust and they pledge to plant more trees.
