Don’t get rash – and produce trash – in the buying spree, instead shop mindfully!
Gift-giving produces waste; in fact, just the necessary material for wrapping gifts produces 1 million tons of trash each week, reports The Washington Post.
A good way to reduce this waste-creation during the holiday season is to create something unique of your own, chip in for one specific gift for your loved one with more people, recycle, buy second-hand, or even regift what you have no need for.
Having said that, we are well aware that probably like many of us you enjoy buying special presents for your loved ones; that is why we want to help you shop sustainably as much as possible with these following suggestions:
1. Seibersdorfer
Why not gift a warm blanket for the chilly winter nights?
Seibersdorfer is an Austrian company, specialising in producing sustainable and cruelty-free bedding. Their blankets and pillows are made with geese feathers that have naturally fallen out, without any live plucking taking place. The feathers used come from “geese that have been reared in welfare-conscious conditions on a farm in natural flocks alongside their mothers” and “are properly fed from day one,” guarantees Seibersdorfer.
2. Who Gives a Crap?
This one might just make them laugh! Everyone needs toilet paper, right?! So why not gift a colorful and silly one, made out of recycled paper?
“[a]round 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation.” Who Gives a Crap? is changing this number: 50% of the company’s profits are donated to ensure clean water and access to a toilet for everyone.
Their toilet rolls are made from either recycled paper or bamboo and are completely biodegradable. And the best part: no trees are chopped down to produce the paper for your tush.
3. Treecelet
Bracelets are always in; especially ones that leave a lasting impact. An impact in the form of a newly planted tree.
Treecelet is a company from Slovenia, the aim of which is to plant trees and prevent deforestation.
How? By selling hand-made bracelets, produced in the EU by people with disabilities or by mothers working from home. Every purchase guarantees the planting of three trees in one of the 9 locations across the world. If you want to help a specific area, simply choose a bracelet with the location’s name, which signifies where the trees are going to be planted.
Bracelets are made from 100% organic cotton, are vegan, their production is carbon-neutral, and they qualify under fair-trade clothing.
Treecelet bracelet is surely an amazing gift for any nature lover out there!
4. Green Elf Trees
Give the best thing there is to give – a Christmas tree! For our lovely readers from the UK, you will be happy to hear that you don’t have to needlessly chop down a healthy tree to bring it to your living room – let Green Elf Trees deliver it to you!
Green Elf Trees trees are sourced within the UK, are delivered to your home with an electric vehicle, and can later be taken back for either replanting or for composting to provide nutritious soil for newly planted trees. And with every tree cut, Green Elf Trees plant two new ones.
But wait, there’s more: a portion of your purchase goes to the charity of your choosing!
5. Born Free
Why not adopt a wild animal? Symbolically, that is! For the price of any other gift, you can let your loved ones’ karma grow! We’re just joking, but yes, you can help them help wild animals.
Born Free is a charity organization, fighting for wild animals to be “treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs.” Their main campaign is to keep wild animals where they belong – in the wild.
One way of supporting the organization is to ‘adopt’ one of the animals provided on their website for a year, and thus financially contribute to the organization.
It’s a perfect gift for all animal lovers, as they will not only receive a certificate but also an adoption pack with the animal’s story, a copy of their Wild Life magazine and a cute plush toy of your adopted animal!
There you have it – some ideas for this year’s sustainable gift-giving! We hope we sparked some ideas in you; we already know this Christmas will be the one to remember.
For more suggestions, check out other sustainable businesses here.
Green Bean 
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