Guys so Christmas is upon us – a mere 6 days away and one of the main activities we do for the season is – CLEAN!!! and as we like to say, “we have to put away our homes before Christmas”. But with this, huge amounts of waste is generated as a result. But this year, let’s do things differently. You can make a difference this season by making some small changes to what you do. I know it may be hard, but these little actions make a huge impact on the environment.

Step 1: For your Christmas functions/limes, instead of using Styrofoam or single use plastic, use reusable and washable containers instead. You can also use compostable food containers to serve the food to your guests and you are also in luck – we have a couple packages left for $100 each.

Step 2: How about this year, that small tree on the yard, becomes the Christmas Tree instead? But if you must have a tree, ensure that it is an artificial one that is non-toxic.

Step 3: Make your gift wrapping more organic. Instead of using that gift paper that just gets thrown away anyway and bought every year, put your gifts in either reusable gift bags that can be repurposed after or use leaves, plants, cloth to decorate your gifts instead.

Step 4: Recycle your old books, papers and even newspapers. If you have a mother like mine – she buys a daily newspaper every day from all three (3) dailies – EVERY DAY. Instead, you can put those newspapers and old books and papers you’ve been hoarding in a transparent garbage bag to be recycled. And guess what, you can drop it off at either our Barataria or Tacarigua drop off point OR for a fee, we can collect it from your doorstep.

Step 5: When getting rid of your large appliances like fridges, stoves, microwaves, ensure you put them out of the days of collection for your respective Regional Corporation or waste collector provider so contact them to find out what day that will be.

Step 6: For safety reasons more so than environmental ones, when you make new purchases of TV and other high end electronics, ensure you completely destroy the boxes they came in. There is absolutely no need to advertise your purchases to your neighbourhood and even more so now, potential thieves.

Step 7: Use reusable shopping bags when grocery shopping. And if you’re like me and you forget most of the time, put reminders in the places you pass by the most, like your bedroom walls, fridge door, front door so that you don’t forget. Remember as well, it’s ok to refuse the plastic bags as well. Our marine life will also thank you for that simple decision as one of the major places bags end up is in the ocean and in the stomachs of our turtles, birds and fish.

So we’ll start you guys off with these seven (7) steps steps. Want to find out more about our competitions and recycling programme? Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages at sieltt to find out more and to keep up with all our updates.

Make your Christmas a sustainable one. Merry Christmas everyone! (I rhymed..lol)