According to the waste management company BiffA, we throw away an estimated 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each year at Christmas in the UK. That is enough to wrap around the whole world more than eight times!

Some of this wrapping paper can be recycled but some of it can’t because it isn’t pure paper or it is plastic. You can tell the difference between them by using the “scrunch test” – if you scrunch it up into a ball and it stays scrunched then it is probably paper and can be recycled; if it springs back open it is probably made of mixed materials or plastics and can’t be recycled.

The choices we make are important. When you buy your wrapping paper make sure that it is pure paper with no plastic laminate, glitter or foil. It is also better if you choose to buy your paper from sustainable sources – that it is FSC-certified or made from recycled paper. Also, try to avoid plastic gift tags and plastic string.

You can read more here.

That’s a wrap for 2024! We will be back with more ecotips in 2025. We hope that they have proved useful. If you have any eco-tips to share then do pop them in the comments or email Mr Magnall with them.