I don't know how many of you get together at Christmas celebrations. In my case, we get together too many whenever our health allows it. I recognize that it is exhausting but unforgettable so we repeat year after year. Added to the preparations of the menu is the decoration with its loaded tree, the names on the plate so that the brothers-in-law do not argue, the nativity scene, the hats, the noisemakers and a long etcetera. We have been recycling for a long time, but doubts always arise about what I do with the waste of Christmas, with each remnant or element that is no longer useful. From Uppers we are going to remember how to recycle everything as well as what to do with the Christmas leftovers.
After lunch or dinner, tidying up is a back and forth from the living room to the kitchen. “You know that at home we recycle”. "Everything in its bucket, please." They are phrases that we already know by heart, but we repeat them in case anyone gets confused. In addition, there are too many totally different types of leftovers that we may use or consume on a few occasions. These days waste is multiplied by five, so the buckets we use every day are sure to be too small for us. Keep in mind that, according to the National Institute of Statistics, only during the Christmas holidays, 30% of the garbage for the whole year is generated.
At home, on meeting dates, a great help is to place five large buckets or boxes in a corner with their corresponding bag for organic waste (brown container); glass (green container); cardboard and paper (blue container); plastic, cans and briks (yellow container); and that garbage that cannot be recycled (grey container).
In addition, we added a smaller box for dead batteries and a large one for items that will go to the recycling point. With an indelible marker we write in huge letters what should be discarded in each one and we even add examples with the type of garbage that they accept so that the diners have it very clear.
We have learned everything about food quite well. We distribute the leftovers in a civilized way, we save the turkey that is left over to make croquettes or cannelloni, we freeze the sauces for another day in jars and we make a “joke” raffle of the bone of the leg of ham. The graceful can take it to the butcher or the butcher, cut into pieces and frozen it will be part of the Sunday stew. There are millions of recipes on social networks about the kitchen of the use, even with the nougat that you no longer dare to finish the plate as an ingredient.
Regarding the recycling of waste, we put ourselves in automatic mode. The ashes and the butts of tobacco or cigars go to the gray container. In the bucket for organic waste we throw what is already in poor condition, the shells of the prawns and eggs or the skins of potatoes and carrots. Then everything will go to the brown container. We also threw here the remains of the cake that had been stuck to its box.
In turn, this will go to the blue container if it is made of cardboard, but first we will free it of its plastic if it had it for the yellow container. The Iberian polystyrene trays, the can of cockles, the plastic corks... will also go to the yellow container. But we will take the box where the prawns arrived to the clean point if it is made of wood. At the beginning of time each process was more laborious, but now it is done practically without thinking.
Once Christmas is over and we want our house to be like it was before, we find lots of things and leftovers that will no longer be useful the following year. It is necessary to arm yourself with patience, but it is worth this small effort to reduce our environmental impact.
The mistletoe, the Christmas tree, the burned-out lights, the worn-out hats, the noisemakers, the gift boxes and paper, the ribbons and wrapping bows, the torn clothes from the costumes, the cardboard nativity scene and the sheep made with yogurt containers… We cannot throw it all together in a bag and leave it in any container. It will take us a bit of time to separate the materials of each thing, such as the noisemaker that includes plastic and cardboard. It will be necessary to group what is destined for the recycling point: the burned-out lights without their batteries that have their own space or the broken plastic tree. And finally, it will be necessary to gather the textiles to leave them in the clothing containers for recycling.
Another option that saves labor and is also more ecological is to think well before buying something new if you really need it. You reduce your footprint and maybe you can make it as a family with what you have at home. A tree from cardboard shoe boxes, wrap with used paper, decorate with cardboard figures from the box of school supplies or take pinecones, branches and dry leaves for centerpieces and door decoration. Here you can also use social networks because thousands of ideas circulate on the internet.
In any case, if you like a new tree or decorations, bet on what is made with recycled materials or go to the Christmas markets, in many of them they make everything by hand and are also supportive.
