A TORY minister has urged cash-strapped Britons to recycle wrapping paper in a bid to promote a green Christmas.
Rebecca Pow, the minister for environmental quality and resilience, has shared advice videos on her Twitter account to promote the Department for the Environment’s tips to reduce festive waste.
She filmed a video of herself ironing a sheet of Christmas wrapping paper so that it could be reused to wrap another gift.
Pow, the MP for Taunton Deane in Somerset, said: “It’s that time of year again.
My top Christmas #recycling tips Ironing old wrapping paper means you can re-use last year’s 🎁 More tips at https://t.co/9x9wlsLMtT#GreenChristmas @DefraGovUK pic.twitter.com/nvPtH3XeRj
— Rebecca Pow (@pow_rebecca) December 20, 2022
“I save all of my old wrapping paper – I drive my children absolutely nuts – but I’ve always done this.
“I save it in a box, I’ve got it all out, I’m ironing it now and I’m going to use it to wrap this year’s presents.
“Obviously, you need to be really careful. Low, low, low heat on the iron. One does not want any risk of fire but it really does work… It saves a lot of money but also saves an awful lot of waste and then you’ve got these lovely wrapping paper to do your wrapping.”
It comes as the UK Government launched a 24-point advice campaign telling the public how to cut down on festive waste - but warning that wrapping with foil or glitter cannot be recycled.
Instead, gift givers are advised to use old newspaper or reuse last year's paper.
Other advice includes telling people to invest in a reusable “Christmas Eve box” for gifts.
A Christmas Eve box is a box of presents which are exchanged before Christmas Day, possibly inspired by the Royal Family’s German tradition of exchanging gifts on December 24.
They also advise people to try making their own Christmas crackers, to avoid using clingfilm to rescue leftovers and to consider buying children second-hand toys instead of new plastic ones.
The Department for the Environment also appears keen to help households avoid contributing to pipe-clogging "fatbergs”, which are blockages caused by fat poured down drains building up in the sewage system.
In 2017 Thames Water workers found a 250-metre long, 130-tonne mass of oil and grease congealed with wet wipes and other sanitary products below the East London neighbourhood Whitechapel.
