When did giving gifts become such a wasteful affair?

When I cast my mind back to Christmases past, and the childhood gifts my sister and I were given, there is one memory that always comes to the fore. There, beside the tinsel-laden tree, was a lumpy, bumpy shape shrouded in my parent’s decidedly 1970s floral bedspread. The excitement and anticipation of what lay underneath still lingers on some thirty years later. It was a bicycle, one which my late grandfather had built from parts and painted pink. It wasn’t the bike I remember, but the pure magic of that big reveal. And when the day was done, my parent’s sheet went back on their bed and not in a black bin bag, destined for landfill. I’ve been wondering, when did giving gifts become such a wasteful affair?

War on waste at Christmas

In the UK alone 227,000 miles of wrapping paper is used at Christmas each year. Over 83km2 of this will end up in our bins. If it has glitter or foil, if you can scrunch it and it springs back up, it contains some form of non recyclable material (typically plastic) and is destined for the incinerator as it can not be recycled. This year, I pledged to go ‘wrapping paper free’, which in hindsight wasn’t exactly the most sensible of challenges to set yourself during a global pandemic. But this is how I achieved it - it’s called furoshiki, and it is absolutely marvellous. 

Furoshiki - the art of Japanese Fabric Wrapping

Furoshiki is the art of Japanese fabric wrapping. Quite simply it means wrapping your gifts in cloth, which can either be a gift in itself, such as a scarf, or a piece of fabric that can be reused again and again. It was surprisingly simple, and there are a ton of videos out there for guidance too. What I hadn’t anticipated was the enforced slow down this process gives. 

A Christmas slow down

In years past there’s been an urgency - an enforced holiday rush - to tick that job off the list and be done with it, often being left in a frustrated, sticky-taped mess. But you can’t rush fabric wrapping, not truly. Part of its art is the consideration you take for how to present that gift to your loved one, being mindful and in the moment as you wrap. I may not be able to see the look on my parent’s faces as they open their gifts this year, but I am hopeful it will create memories for years to come with every time the wrapping is reused. That, in itself, is priceless. 

It’s only one gift - said 8 billion people

I appreciate this isn’t going to be a challenge everyone will choose to undertake this year. But if everyone chose to give one gift with a reusable wrapping, that would equate to big change. Because that’s the thing about sustainable living - if we all just do one thing, then that’s billions of people working collectively to help secure a positive future for all. And what greater gift can there be?

My warm wishes this holiday season,

Laura