Wondering how to wrap your Christmas presents sustainably this year? Look no further. In all the excitement of Christmas (and the chance of finally being able to see our family, albeit via a very 2020 Christmas bubble), how to wrap your presents may, understandably, be the last thought on your mind this year. But we’re here to let you know that you can wrap your gifts beautifully — whilst being friendly to the planet — with little to no more effort than it takes to pop to the shops.

Reuse your wrapping paper

Much like the mathematical equation needed to know exactly how much pasta to cook for one person, the art of buying just the right amount of wrapping paper is an art form.

This means we are often left with unused or extra rolls of Christmas gift wrap, so firstly check last year’s supplies for anything you didn’t use up that you can reuse this year. You could even check around your home for suitable wrapping material you might not have thought of using before, such as paper grocery bags and cardboard boxes.

Most of the Christmas gift wrap you'll find in stores is either coated in plastic or covered with glitter, which makes it near impossible to recycle or biodegrade. So, if you are buying new gift wrap this year, try to avoid the big glitter-encrusted culprits and opt instead for recycled gift wrap (like these from Rewrapped), or choose plain brown parcel paper instead.

Scrap the sellotape

Yep, innocuous as it may seem, sellotape is a plastic which means this tiny strip of sticky tape can undo all of your efforts.

Instead, why not watch a YouTube video or two and learn how to master the art of jute wrapping, so you can wrap all your gifts without the need for a single strip of sellotape? You can shop recycled ribbons on Etsy, or alternatively use a paper-based tape.

DIY your decorations

Similarly to gift wrap, most stick-on gift bows and ribbons are made from materials that cannot be recycled (which, when you think about it, does seem silly for what’s usually no more than five seconds worth of excitement). But that doesn’t mean your presents need to look bare! Instead, give them a natural flourish with some homemade decorations such as dried orange slices — check out this simple recipe from the BBC.

You can also gather dried flowers and foliage, pine cones or cinnamon sticks, which will help give your gifts that final finishing touch.

Top tip: old Christmas cards also make for great makeshift gift tags, too!

Recycle what can be recycled

We’ve all been there: Christmas Day is coming to an end, and our living floor is positively overflowing with discarded wrapping paper (although, we can expect that mound to be slightly less this year, on account of our Covid-safe three-household-bubbles). So what can be recycled, and what do you do with it?

Plain paper wrapping paper, as mentioned above, can be recycled, but it isn’t always easy to differentiate the paper from the plastic. In a BBC article, Simon Ellin, chief executive of the Recycling Association, suggested using the ‘scrunch test.’ Basically, if you can scrunch your wrapping paper and it stays scrunched up — like regular paper does — it’s likely it can be recycled.

That said, you’ll still need to make sure it’s free of sellotape and gift tags, and remember not all councils take wrapping paper — you may need to take it to your nearest recycling centre. You can check with your local authority online to find out the rules where you live.

From all of us at City Girl Network — happy holidays!

Disclaimer: We have an affiliate deal with Etsy, so if you do decide to buy any of these beautiful products, we make a bit of money (from Etsy, not the sellers - they still get the full payment agreed with Etsy) which goes towards our business costs for keeping the network up, running and free.

Written by Danielle Petch

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