Christmas holidays and New Years’ Eve celebration is usually a perfect time for gathering with our family, loved ones and friends. We all are kind to each other and show how much we love and care about each other. But what about our environment? Have you ever thought about how much food waste we create and how much plastic we throw away? Our planet is the one that should be loved and nourished!
The waste we create at the end of a year
As you might suspect, we create tons of waste at the end of the year because all the food we cook for Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebration. We also buy more presents for Christmas than we buy during the whole year all together! Sadly, only half of these presents are truly appreciated by gifted people.
It’s very shocking that in the U.S., people throw away about 25% more rubish and food during the winter holiday season than during any other time of a year. That makes up for 25 million tons of rubbish!! Could you believe that?
In Australia, we create 125 thousand tons of plastic waste and use about 8 thousand tones of wrapping paper! Adding to this environmental disaster, most of the wrapping paper cannot be recycled because it contains foil, dyes or glitters or it’s too thin and many local authorities don’t accept wrapping paper for recycling.
Talking about all the yummy festive Christmas and New Year’s Eve food, it’s estimated that around 74 million fruit pies and 4.2 million of turkey plates are wasted and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Overall, 1.3 billion tons of food are thrown away worldwide, costing the global economy $940 billion! Isn’t absolutely crazy?
Of course, food, plastic, and wrapping paper are not the only kinds of rubbish that add to the pollution of our environment. We also throw tons of batteries away. The batteries that are not carefully disposed of causing a leak of extremely toxic and dangerous materials, such as mercury, lithium, or lead. There is nothing worse than the contamination of the environment with old batteries!
Is it possible to have a sustainable New Years’ Eve celebration?
After Thanksgiving Day and Christmas holidays, New Years’ Eve celebrations are the most destroying events for the environment. If you plan to host the New Year’s Eve party this year or want to contribute to one, you might wish to make smarter choices this year!
But, how do you reduce your food and plastic waste and be kind to the environment? Some steps are easy and obvious. Like using less plastic cups, plates, and cutlery. Some of them you may want to plan ahead your celebration. For example, you have to think about what decorations you will use.
So, what are the steps to have a sustainable New Years’ Eve celebration this year?
1. Food planning is the key
All the food that we waste over Christmas time and New Year’s Eve doesn’t mean that we waste only the food but much more than that. We waste the time someone grew the food and manufactured it. Surely we also waste our time and time of our loved ones and friends that we spent on cooking and preparing the meals. Pretty sad, huh?
Food planning is absolutely crucial for sustainable New Years Eve, Make smart choices when you think about the food you will cook and prepare for the New Year’s Eve party. Ask yourself: Do I have some leftover ingredients and food that I can use for New Year’s Eve cooking? How much of that food that I already have can I incorporate in the food prep for the party and how much do I have to buy?
Regarding to a food shopping for the New Years Even celebration, think about what you will cook and what ingredients you really need to buy and what ingredients you already have in your fridge or a pantry. This way you avoid buying unnecessary stuff.
Take care of leftovers
Make sure you buy, store, and cook your planned food at the right time or you will easily waste it. While shopping, bear in mind how many people will attend the event and how many guests you will cook and cater for. Don’t buy heaps of food that is on sale just because it’s cheap. Everything you buy above what you really need for cooking will go to waste.
Another great thought is that you don’t have to impress anyone by cooking too much food that no one will eat. That fact is that people come together to enjoy themselves and have a good time by spending precious moments together. Of course, having awesome food along the way is amazing. But remember, less is more sometimes.
When the party is over, don’t forget to redistribute leftovers to your guests. Take home what is left and if you can’t eat it anytime soon, freeze it. That’s a way you make sure that nothing will go to waste this year!
2. Skip the plastic
Set yourself a goal to avoid plastic as much as you can in order to create a sustainable New Years’ Eve. How do you manage it? Use glass, paper or any other reusable materials for your flatware. Having plastic cutlery is really old-fashioned and ignorant! No one likes to do dishes on the 1st January but would you do it as a first step for a more sustainable new year??
On the same note, plastic straws are not cool at all! You can easily replace them with metal or paper straws. Plus you will reuse them over and over again!
Paper serviettes are not always can be recycled, especially if they are greasy, oily or wet. Buy some funny and colourful fabric napkins. When the party is over, chuck them in a washing machine and all the hard work is done for you!
3. Use environment-friendly decorations
In the most perfect case, you already have some decorations from the last year that you can use this year as well. You might also like to ask your friends if they won’t find any decorations in their homes. You can collect them before the planned New Year’s Eve.
If you don’t have any decorations at all, then improvize! Use lights from your Christmas tree, nuts, fruit, flowers, cookies, fabric… Anything you find at your home and in your kitchen. Rearrange the object that they look appealing and guests can even eat them!
If you have any old cardboard from any old purchases you have done in the past, you can use it too! Cut out different shapes, such as stars, hearts, leaves, etc. and paint them! Cut out a banner with the “Happy New Year” sign and reuse it the next year. Of course, only in case you don’t write what year it is!
4. Make vegan-friendly decisions
You don’t have to be vegan that eats only plant-based food but you can make vegan-friendly decisions! That includes:
- choose public transport over driving a car
- wear a vegan and second-hand suit or dress
- avoid chemical for cleaning and go for natural materials
- sort the waste to reusable, recyclable, and biodegradable
- avoid fireworks
You are probably aware that using a personal vehicle is not environment-friendly. In fact, using a personal car produces about 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide a year. So, it’s a quite bit pollutant.
This year, be smarter than that! Leave your car in a garage and opt for public transport. When the party is over, don’t call a taxi but search for night transport. If there is none available, you might get a sleepover! You might even not go to sleep at all if the party continues till the early morning!
Don’t buy a dress especially only for New Year’s Eve celebration! I know and I get it, you want to shine and impress everyone! But hold on. Wouldn’t it be much better if you saved money and borrowed a dress from your friend, buy a multi-purpose dress from the second hand or OP shop? Or what about renting a dress for one night?
Regarding fireworks, you already know that they are expensive, dangerous, and negatively affect the environment. Fireworks contain chemicals and dyes that are toxic to us and to our environment. Therefore, you should definitely stay out of it!
Instead, work out how to have a light show or light displays. You can also invest in buying a drone that does all the fun for you! You could use it for other occasions throughout the year, too!
Be smarter this year and host a sustainable New Year’s Eve celebration
So there you have it! Now you know how to smash absolutely sustainable, vegan and environment-friendly New Year’s Eve celebrations that everyone will remember for a very long time!
Make small and easy steps that will lead to a long-lasting impact on the environment and our health. Don’t be shy or embarrassed to try new things. You never know, you might even encourage or inspire someone to host the same, eco-friendly New Year’s Eve party!
Klara Walterova
Klara is a professional freelance writer for hire. She offers web content, blog posting, ghostwriting and copywriting. She writes for a healthy lifestyle, wellness and travel websites. She focuses on veganism and the vegan diet. When she's not writing, she develops new tasty vegan recipes, travels the world or plays with her cats. Please contact her for her online writing services on her website writtenbyvegan.com or visit her Instagram profile @writtenbyvegan.