During the festive season, everyone loves to receive a handwritten Christmas card with a thoughtful message written inside by family members, friends and acquaintances – especially if they live some distance away. Due to the cost and the impact on the environment, fewer people are maintaining the once popular tradition of sending Christmas cards via the postal service.

While Christmas e-cards offer an easy and convenient solution to minimising the fuss of the festive season, receiving yuletide greetings via a computer, laptop or mobile device, simply doesn’t evoke the same heartwarming feelings.

An estimated 1.5 billion Christmas cards are thrown away by UK households each year. As more and more people are becoming conscious of environmental issues and the climate crisis, there is a need to find alternative ways in which to do things without causing further harm to the planet.

If you want to do your bit, recycled, eco-friendly Christmas cards provide a great ‘green’ solution to sending festive cheer and Merry Xmas wishes to everyone on your Christmas card list.

1. Recycled Christmas Cards Are Better For The Environment

Recycled, eco-friendly Christmas cards are generally made from the pulp of recycled card fibres, from virgin paper that is made from sustainable sources, or a combination of the two. They are plastic-free and recyclable, and their packaging is often compostable. 

Christmas cards that are certified eco-friendly by the Forest Stewardship Council will have a FSC symbol printed on the card. 

Image courtesy of Precisetti79 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

You can check for the FSC symbol (shown above) to make sure the Christmas card you’re buying is eco-friendly (the card will usually be marked on the back).

2. You Can Give Christmas An Eco Makeover 

By giving a recycled Christmas card, you help promote the idea of being environmentally-conscious and aware of the impact of our actions on the Earth.

There’s no need to ban Christmas just because you are actively looking for ways to become more eco-conscious. It is possible to celebrate the festive season while also reducing the impact of your consumerism. Making wiser choices when buying Christmas cards and wrapping paper is a great place to start, when giving Christmas an eco makeover.

3. Minimise Your Contribution To Plastic Waste

Recycled Christmas cards that are packaged in a compostable vegetable starch film bag, or biodegradable packaging help you to minimise your contribution to the ever-growing plastic waste problem. 

Trash on the beach breaking down into microplastics

Materials that are biodegradable completely break down and return to nature, whereas materials like plastic will never break down. Compostable materials do the same thing, but also enrich the earth with nutrients.

4. No, Don’t Have To Give Up The Sparkle

Glitzy glitter is made from microplastics that are notoriously difficult to recycle and also harmful to the planet. Because that sparkly stuff is such a popular Christmas card embellishment, it’s now possible to buy and send recycled Christmas cards that are decorated with an alternative, eco-friendly shimmering glitter finish.

5. Eco-Friendly is Health-Friendly

The inks and dyes that are used to add vibrant colour to traditional Christmas cards contain an assortment of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), some of which can potentially damage human health.

Recycled Christmas cards are the healthy option because they are made using low or no alcohol printing techniques. Eco-friendly Christmas cards that are printed using vegetable based inks are even healthier.

6. Inspire Others To Make Better Choices

When you make a small change to your seasonal habits and send Christmas cards that are recycled and eco-friendly, you are sending out the message that you support ethical, environmental sustaining practices. Without forcing your values on your friends and family, you are also encouraging them to become more aware of their consumer-buying purchases.

7. Become A Trend Setter

Swapping traditional Christmas cards for recycled Christmas cards instantly puts you in an on-trend, environmentally aware position. More and more people are now making sustainable living choices to improve the quality of their lives. You can help start the trend with your friends and family!

8. Recycled Craft Projects

Not all Christmas cards are created equal. Unrecyclable cards end up adding to the overflowing pile of waste on landfill sites. Christmas cards that are made from recycled paper, and from verified sustainable sources, help to reduce the amount of paper waste that is collected after the festive season. To ensure the Christmas cards you are sending are eco-friendly, they must feature a FSC symbol on the stock paper. 

Related Post: 17 DIY Christmas Gifts From Recycled Items (With Tutorials!)

If you don’t want to compost your beautiful and colourful recycled Christmas cards in January, you can use them for your creative craft projects throughout the year. Add  twine or ribbon and make stylish recycled DIY gift tags for presents that are wrapped in environmentally friendly and trendy brown paper, and secured with recyclable tape. If you’re highly artistically minded you can use recycled Christmas cards to make unique sustainable decorations like festive bunting, garlands and wreaths.

9. Support Green Charities

Christmas cards that are recycled, and also support charities that are ‘green’ are a double duty shopping option that is too good to miss, if you want to make the biggest impact with your Christmas card buying purchase, look for eco-friendly charity Christmas cards to send to your family and friends.

10. Recycled Christmas Cards Keep On Giving

Handmade plantable seed recycled Christmas cards that are made from biodegradable eco-friendly seed paper, that contains embedded plant seeds, help the environment to flourish. Instead of throwing the Christmas card away in the New Year, you can plant the sustainable card in a plant pot. Water it regularly, and watch it grow. As the paper composts, beautiful wildflowers will bloom.  You can also buy recycled Christmas cards that are embedded with carrot seeds.


This post was kindly sponsored by Rose Mood.

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