The last posting date is upon us (eek!), we've bought (almost) all our presents and wrapping them up will soon become a priority. But buying reams of paper is expensive, and just think of all those trees - a shocking 50,000 of them each year just for wrapping gifts, according to Friends of the Earth. Here are some suggestions for making last minute, greener wrapping paper of your own, using items you already have at home.
• Use up existing those bits of printer paper you have at home that aren't quite pristine enough for letter-writing purposes. There's a great online template here for making your own personalised paper from the comfort of your desktop, which can then be printed out for use. It uses a fun, online tool called Make a Flake, which will provide hours of fun for bored kids who can't wait for Christmas, whether or not you choose to print their masterpieces.
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Our Christmas tree has finally arrived at Shiny Towers, and I was looking for instructions on how to make festive light bulb baubles when I stumbled on this fabulous idea for re-using old-style lightbulbs. Dead bulbs are just the right shape and size for making salt and pepper shakers and all it takes is a little wax, some soda bottle tops and ordinary household tools to make a pair of your very own.
The shakers, which you could also decorate using one of the many tutorials for making bulb baubles, are great fun and remind me of Weebles - the toys that wobble but don't fall down. Follow the jump for step-by-step instructions.
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I've just been feasting my eyes on the Sparkleball site, Sparkleball being the oddly-named concept of making festive and funky lights out of old plastic cups. It's a great form of recycling, and you'd be surprised at how easy it is to make them, and just how effective they can look. There's a gallery here showing all kinds of creative ways that they've been used to decorate trees, houses and spots all over the world.
Want to have a go at making your own? Instructions on how to make a sparkleball are here. Follow the jump for a video!
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If cats could speak, they probably wouldn't come out with anything particularly fluffy or nature-loving. In fact, it would probably sound more like 'KILL KILL KILL!' but many of us mugs still love them anyway.
Katie's cat Milo is well on his way to being a top green feline, and is already a legend for his cameo roll in our hippy deodorants video. So what makes Milo greener than the average mog? Well, for starters, he doesn't go out so no birds in the immediate vicinity are threatened with extinction — and he does his business on World's Best cat litter, which is an alternative to normal cat litter that can be flushed straight down the loo - it's made from specially processed, organic whole-kernel corn. House cats typically generate about 500 kilos of litter in their lifetime, so if you're going to keep your cat indoor, biodegradable litter is one way of cutting down on this waste.
If that's not green enough for you, there's a growing trend towards teaching your cat to use the human "litter tray", à la Mr Jinx from Meet the Parents. There's even a yahoo group devoted to it. If this idea appeals, follow the jump for a short 'cat toilet training' video that leaves nothing to the imagination...
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With a month to go till Christmas, the shops are all full to bursting with Christmas cards in more designs than ever. And as someone with a full-on stationery fetish, I get rather excited about this. So if you're someone who sensibly believes that simply NOT sending cards is the only Green Way, please look away now.
I tend to make my own cards but I'll admit it's handy to have a set of 'emergency' ones for when friends and relatives pop round unexpectedly. This is where shop-bought ones come in handy, but let's stop to look at the figures for a minute: Last year 744 million Christmas cards were sent by UK householders.
If all these were recycled instead of being thrown away, it would help to save the equivalent of 248,000 trees. I don't think anyone needs a lecture on how to recycle paper, but if these cards were made from recycled paper in the first place, we'd be saving even more. Add to this a donation to your favourite charity, and the act of card-giving starts to look positively saintly.
More good news is that recycled ranges are no longer restricted to a couple of basic designs on mud-coloured paper in the corner of shops full of otherwise jolly Christmas fare. Follow the jump for a roundup of the best recycled cards I've seen this year and where to get them.
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If you'd like to show a little more respect to the planet (and your neighbours) than these guys did, we've got some great ideas coming up for green and ethical ways to make your home look festive this Christmas. From recycled wreaths to fairly-traded ornaments and low energy eco-lights, it's all in our guide, which we'll be bringing you between now and Christmas. Our first installment is all about wreaths.
Wonderful wreaths
The 'rules' on when to put up decorations don't seem to apply to Christmas wreaths...they are always the first festive sign of the season and are popping up all over the place, so if you haven't spotted any yet the chances are they'll soon be coming to a door near you. So with the green light to go ahead and decorate, what's the best sort to get?
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We came against a question this week at Shiny Towers that really seems to divide people: What's the greenest type of Christmas tree?
Some say a plastic tree is greener because it doesn't involve killing a tree, or putting aside heaps of land to grow them. Others argue that a real tree is greener because (a) trees = good, plastic = bad and if you keep your tree alive after twelfth night, all the better. Personally, I would never want a plastic tree in my house, and I would hate to give up that fragrant and beautiful aspect of Christmas that is the tree. So, I've done fair bit of research into finding green ones to justify my whim. This is what I discovered...
You tree's upbringing...
The first consideration is how your tree was grown. In the UK, the Forestry Commission is the best source for sustainably-grown trees: for each tree grown, another is planted, and its Norway Spruces now all have Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. This means that everything possible is done to ensure the trees are grown and harvested sustainably. And they are readily available: you can find your nearest Forestry Commission tree sales centre here.
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