Sustainable gift wrapping ideas

It’s no secret that part of the joy of Christmas morning is tearing the wrapping paper off of your presents. Many of us can admit that we also love a well-wrapped gift! But what about the waste that results from giving or receiving a gift during Christmas time?

Every year, New Zealanders send around 2.5 million tonnes of waste to landfills – this works out to be over a tonne of rubbish per household. The majority of this waste cannot be reprocessed or recycled, and also won’t break down over time. Over the festive season the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills across the country only grows with the waste collected increasing by 10%, and recycling increasing by 20%. This is a huge amount of rubbish that our transfer stations need to process and ultimately much of it is non-recyclable.

One way that we can all help to play our part over the busy holiday season is by choosing to wrap gifts in packaging that is sustainable, so can either be reused, or recycled. Traditional wrapping paper is often covered in metallic and glitter making it hard to recycle with standard recyclables. You think of the number of gifts you give or receive each year and then times that by 5 million – that’s a lot of gift wrap and packaging that will more often than not head straight to landfills across NZ. Businesses can share in this responsibility as well. By choosing sustainable wrapping for client gifts or for pre-wrapped e-commerce orders, companies can make it easier for recipients to do their bit for the environment.

While you’re still bound to find traditional Christmas wrapping items down at your local shop or mall, there are now some great environmental options available too which will make you feel even better about giving a gift this Christmas. These options can also be a great option for businesses that want to wrap their items more sustainably for customers during the festive season.

Find out more about sustainable Christmas packaging and your options below.

The effect of wrapping paper on the environment

While Christmas wrapping paper may appear to be just that – paper, many Kiwis are unaware that most wrapping papers are actually lined with plastic and therefore not recyclable. Loading up your recycling bin on Boxing Day with non-recyclable wrapping paper will not only cause a headache for your local refuse station that will be sorting through your recycling, but could also lead to an entire bin of paper recycling going to waste, if the wrapping paper is missed. If wrapping paper is laminated, metallic, has glitter on it, or has a texture to it, it’s not recyclable. If you’re unsure whether or not your wrapping paper can be recycled, a good test can be to crush the wrapping paper into a ball. If it stays bunched up, it’s likely that the paper can be recycled.

So what happens to wrapping paper if it can’t be recycled? In most cases it will simply go straight to landfill. The presence of landfills results in the emission of the harmful greenhouse gas, methane. Landfills are responsible for approximately 10% of human-made methane currently, and with populations growing, this figure is only going to increase. This is why it’s important that we shift our reliance on landfills for the disposal of waste, to something more sustainable like recycling.

Recycling will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions when compared to sending the same materials to landfills – for every tonne of waste diverted from landfills, 0.8 metric tonnes of the carbon equivalent are saved.

Gift wrapping alternatives

If you’d rather not take the risk with wrapping paper, and would like to invest in more sustainable packaging options that can either be reused or recycled, then the following are some good alternatives to get you started!

Environmentally friendly wrapping paper

If you’d still like to wrap your gifts in paper then more environmentally friendly wrapping papers are available that can most definitely be recycled amongst your standard paper and cardboard recycling.

Kraft wrapping papers are 100% recyclable and perfect for the general packaging of light or heavy duty products. Kraft papers are also available in a range of different sizes and thicknesses making them quite customisable to varying needs – whether that be for wrapping gifts for family members, or for use within a business.

As Kraft paper is also unprinted you still have the option to decorate the paper should you wish to use it for Christmas wrapping – just grab some coloured markers or pencils and you’re away!

Shop kraft wrapping papers here >>

Environmentally friendly gift boxes and bags

If items are hard to wrap then gifting them in a box or bag can be a lot more practical, especially for fragile items that need a bit of extra padding. While traditional gift boxes and bags are often printed and non-recyclable, there are some great sustainable alternatives available.

For smaller fragile items corrugated card boxes are a simple sustainable option that can also be recycled. Simply wrap a bow around the box to secure it or even better, use some kraft paper tape. For bigger items the humble paper bag can also be used as a means of holding gifts – adding a nice message and securing with some decorative string will easily add some cheer to your paper bag and excite the receiver of the gift. For bigger items nothing beats an environmentally friendly cardboard carton that can be easily recycled after it’s opened.

Shop the full range of cartons, paper & protectives >>

How businesses can help

There are a number of ways that businesses can offer their customers more sustainable ways of shopping over the festive season. For online retailers, simply offering customers a sustainable packaging option that they can recycle once they receive their gift or purchase is enough. For people making purchases in store you may want to change up any complimentary gift wrapping you offer to only recyclable or reusable options. Companies such as Mecca already offer a sustainable packaging option, charging no additional rate for this choice.

Choosing sustainable gift-wrapping is not only a great way to cut down the amount of waste that you’ll be sending to landfills, but it also means those receiving your gifts will have less rubbish to throw away as well. We’re sure that those receiving your gifts will also appreciate the extra thought that you’ve put into wrapping their gift(s) in packaging that’s better for the environment!

For a full range of the cartons and paper packaging products that we supply you can head to our website here.