New homes provider Bromford is sharing its top tips for re-loving, re-using and recycling for the new year. 

Catherine Jarrett, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bromford, said: “At Bromford we care deeply about the environment and making a positive impact. The new year is a great time for making positive changes, particularly following the festive period which we know can come with a lot of waste and excess, and we hope very much that sharing these tips can help others to live a more sustainable life in 2023.” 

 

1.    Recycle your Christmas tree - Having a real Christmas tree in your home is a lovely addition to festive decorations but disposing of them can be harmful to the environment. Recycling them is a much better option and there are many ways to do it, such as giving the tree to an organisation that has use for it like Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, who put trees in enclosures as enrichment for the animals, or by getting in touch with a tree recycling scheme such as TreeCycle, which recycles trees in return for a donation to St Giles hospice care.

2.    Tackle wrapping waste - Wrapping gifts can generate a lot of excess waste, so a great way to reduce your environmental impact is to re-use where you can. Gift bags can be saved for next year, or used for shopping bags if large enough. Try to salvage what wrapping paper you can for use again next time and consider cutting up cards into gift tags for future festivities.  

3.    Get creative with leftovers - Christmas comes with plenty of great food, but it’s almost impossible to eat all of it. You can reduce your food waste in a number of ways, such as by using vegetable scraps and leftover meat bones to make stock, carefully checking expiration dates and freezer suitability so you can plan your meals around what needs to be used and checking if friends or foodbanks will take unwanted items before disposing of them.  

4.    Donate, don’t dispose of unwanted gifts - Whether you received a Christmas present you don’t want, or a gift that replaced something you already have, there will always come a time when you have things in your home you no longer need. It can be tempting to just throw them away to declutter, but a much more sustainable option is to donate unwanted items to charity shops, or people you know who may have use for them, so that they can be re-loved as opposed to ending up in a landfill.

5.    Be thoughtful of January sales - Overconsumption is a common problem in both the festive period and the sales that tend to follow it. Try to think carefully about what you need and will use when shopping the sales, particularly when shopping online as shipping returns is a notable contributor to carbon emissions. 

Bromford is providing a range of Shared Ownership properties for homebuyers in West Midlands.