Living a Zero Waste Christmas: Tips and Reflections

2. Do not throw away food
It may seem obvious, but it needs to be said. Did you know that an estimated one-third of the world’s food is thrown away ? We live in a world capable of generating food for all of humanity, yet in some countries people suffer or die from hunger, while in others, obesity has become a pandemic.

The holidays are a time of year for eating a lot. It seems that the more and more exotic food the better. Abundance without responsibility leads to tons of wasted food, especially when eating out.

Therefore, if you cook at home…

· Plan and calculate the amount of food you buy and cook

· Store leftovers properly and consume or freeze them before they spoil.

· Before you have to throw away, give away and share leftover food.

· Learn recipes for leftovers. Good examples include cannelloni, croquettes, or preserves!

And if you go out to eat, consider bringing a Tupperware container so you can take home leftovers. It might be embarrassing because it’s frowned upon. But it’s even worse to throw away food you’ve paid for and that’s still in good condition when someone else near you might need it.

Initiatives that prevent food waste:
When it comes to buying food or choosing restaurants, there are a growing number of initiatives working to make use of food that would otherwise be thrown away:

Es imperfect is a brand of jams made from “imperfect fruit.” They rescue pieces of fruit that don’t meet standard size or shape and make jams with them. This way, they prevent perfectly good food from going to waste, which would otherwise be discarded due to its appearance.

The Tasty Hour is a Barcelona-based initiative that rescues leftover pastries and serves them at events and offices at a lower price.

The To Good To Go app shows you stores with surplus food nearby so you can pick up last-minute “surprise packs” and avoid wasting food at the end of the day.

3. Give intangible gifts
Sometimes we give gifts for the sake of giving, and we end up filling our homes with objects of little use. Objects that end up as clutter, do very little for us, and take up space.

What if we used the money for non-material gifts? Here are some examples:

· Quality time and presence : in these times… it is the greatest luxury

· Experiences : do an adventure sports activity or a dinner for two in a special restaurant

· Culture and entertainment : cinema, theatre, museums, concerts… are experiences that are lived, shared and never forgotten.

Education and knowledge : knowledge takes up no space, never better said! From a cheese tasting, a sewing workshop, or a little help with that course you want to take… investing in education is always a good idea.

4. Change “having” to “using”
It makes less and less sense to buy something and own it when you really just need to use it. This is what’s called the shift from product to service, and we’ll give you two clear examples of this.

Transportation : Why spend money on a car or motorcycle that will spend most of its time parked on the street or in a garage when there are car-sharing and moto-sharing options? There are increasingly more mobility options that allow us to pay for a service by the minute or hour instead of purchasing a vehicle and also paying for insurance and repairs. How about giving a three-month moto-sharing subscription? Services like eCooltra or Yego are examples of this.

Ecooltra, a successful motosharing model
Music . It’s another example of why we no longer need to buy the physical media of an old CD to enjoy our favorite music. Thanks to streaming platforms like Spotify or Monkingme , you can have music available on all your devices for free or by paying a monthly fee for the Premium option. Less waste and many more benefits. How about giving a Spotify subscription as a gift?

· Spotify: all your music on one multi-device platform
The Sharing Economy
The phenomenon of the Sharing Economy and the servitization of products is preventing resources from being underutilized and eliminating our dependence on material goods and property to satisfy a need.

One last example: why buy or give yourself a drill this Christmas if you’re really only going to use it on rare occasions? Instead, ask a neighbor for one, share one with several people, or visit a “library of things , ” an initiative that’s spreading to more and more cities.

Another example of collaborative consumption that we like to share is the mobile app Lendi , an initiative that emerged in Barcelona that promotes sharing things we need among neighbors.

5. Gift to last
Since you’re going to buy or give something as a gift, make sure it’s quality and will last as long as possible.
We recommend asking yourself these questions before purchasing anything:

· Do you really need it?

· Is it designed to last?

· Is it reusable or single-use?

· Can it be easily repaired?

· Can it be given a second life at the end of its use?

· Can it be recycled well?

Sometimes we don’t have all the answers, but considering these factors before purchasing anything will help everything last longer and take longer to become waste.

Against planned obsolescence… repair!
Even if we ask ourselves the above questions, many objects are designed and created to last a short time. This way, the manufacturer ensures that you’ll need to buy it again within a certain period of time. This is what’s called Planned Obsolescence , and it’s something that needs to change radically because we can’t base our economic model on companies manufacturing poor-quality items so that their survival depends on our continued purchases.

In Barcelona, ​​there are two very interesting initiatives that help citizens extend the useful life of their objects:

· Better than new: public repair shops for small appliances and miscellaneous items

· Reparatruck: a truck that provides free mobile repair services, an initiative of the Solidança organization.

6. Give support to a better world
There are tons of projects out there striving to create a better, more sustainable world. So why not dedicate some of our money to supporting transformative causes? Here are some gift-giving examples.

· An annual fee to an association or NGO that fights for a cause with which you identify

· A contribution to a crowdfunding or micro-sponsorship campaign for a project that you think is worthwhile on one of the existing platforms: Ulule , Verkami , Goteo , etc.

· Purchase products from an initiative that contributes to the Social and Solidarity Economy

· Support for local and nearby initiatives , whether food products, artists or others.

How to recognize a good gift?

Although it is sometimes difficult to find the perfect product, when faced with many options to buy the same thing, you can use the criterion of evaluating the option that meets the greatest number of these responsible consumption criteria :

· Sustainability

· Proximity

· Fair Trade

· Solidarity

· Social inclusion

· No unnecessary waste