Silly season - Christmas in the world of waste.

Around the Western world, people are gearing up to a time often known as “Silly Season”. It’s a time for parties and holidays. It’s defined by excess – eating too much, partying too much and splurging on gifts and things you and your family don’t really need.

For decades we’ve been convinced that this is what Christmas is about. Brands vary their messaging with feel-good tactics, but really, it’s all about convincing you that the joy you’re supposed to feel at Christmas, can only come from getting this, or buying that for your loved ones.

Just 50 years ago, a child’s eyes would light up at unwrapping a book, a handknitted doll, or home-made train set. Today, their eyes glaze over when they see a toy catalogue or watch adverts on TV. It takes mere seconds before they turn to their parents and announce: “I want THAT for Christmas.”

Marketers pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Retailers announce record sales figures and everyone toasts in the New Year feeling fat and happy… or do they? When the tinsel has been packed away, and the holiday hangover has worn off, what are we left with? It’s not the warm fuzzy feelings those adverts promised. It’s overflowing dustbins, fridges full of week-old leftovers, and more unwanted gifts than we know what to do with.

It's not just a waste problem, but an economic one: £700 000 worth of unwanted gifts and £1,2 million worth of Christmas decorations end up in landfill. And if that isn’t crazy enough, here are some more bizarre statistics :

1. The energy used to cook brussel sprouts in the UK on Christmas is enough to power a home for 2,5 years.
2. 70 000 miles of broken Christmas lights are thrown away each year.
3. And 230 000 tonnes of food waste is generated over Christmas – equivalent to 460 000 grand piano’s! Do we even have that many grand piano’s in the UK?

With these statistics, there’s no denying that the festive season is a time of excess and of waste. Consumerism is amplified on every level, and even recycling efforts seem to take a dive because dealing with all the extra waste, takes more effort at the time of year when most are taking time off. And isn’t that ultimately what the waste problem comes down to… effort. It’s so much easier to discard than to think about what could or should happen to it.

We could blame traditions, but those have been distorted. We could blame retailers, but they’ll claim they’re driving the economy. Manufacturers? Oh, they’re only responding to what consumers want. The consumers? They’re so used to buying, they have a panic attack at the idea of not being able to shop. The blame game always ends up going in circles. Pity they’re the wrong kind of circles.

As individuals we can make the effort, and certainly every bit helps. But we’ve been doing too little for too long. To have real impact we need a collective change of culture. There are too few organizations working on solutions, while others continue with business as usual. The solutions need to become the new norm and business needs an entirely new way of operating.

What could this look like for all stakeholders if they were to start focusing on impactful environmental initiatives? And more importantly, would industry really shift away from consumerism to regeneration of their own accord?

For manufacturers perhaps innovation needs to switch from creating new products to improving design and enabling repair for older established products. Working with existing materials and identifying opportunities to create solutions for climate mitigation. Generating a supply of spares, investing in training technicians for repairs, and supporting trade-in solutions will support circular efforts to make better use of materials in the economy.

In the supply chain, greater accountability is needed, with a focus on sourcing materials from the economy rather than nature. Where resources are extracted from nature to make major investments in regeneration that go way beyond bare minimum mitigation steps.

In retail, there’s an opportunity to take the lead in terms of reducing excess packaging, providing options for refill purchases and acting as collection points for specific recyclables. Still, it’s questionable if retail will ever be willing to abort their famous 3 for 2 specials and other discounting tactics aimed at getting consumers to buy more, even when they don’t need it.

As much as retailers don’t want to see profits dive, the reality is that overconsumption is quite literally killing the world. Fear or feel-good tactics are no longer enough to alter behaviours on a societal level, so what will? Legislation that takes ten years to implement and is never properly policed?  Collective consumer action which only lasts as long as it’s trendy or convenient?

We need to change what we view as logical, especially our view of economics and what we think we need. We really don’t need the as much stuff as we think we do. We need clean air, clean soil, clean water, and retail profits certainly aren’t going to deliver that if the consumerism mindset continues.