by Abi Philp, December 2021, with the help of Director Sheilagh Richards. 

How can you RECYCLE, REUSE and REDUCE this Christmas?

What easy tricks can you do to recycle?

Our in house resident seam stress and design expert Sheila has been working tirelessly the last few weeks making Christmas decorations from others rubbish! The results have amazed the whole office at A R Richards. From the very simple to the most complex of baubles there is something for everyone.

Christmas Snowflakes, Tags and Paper Chains:
Such a simple but beautiful way to decorate. Using old books, perhaps that have pages missing, cut the paper into snowflake shapes, gift tags or paper chains to create an elegant but effective decoration. Do make sure that when you are using sharp scissors you have an adult with you at all times!

A lovely tip, is use sheet music that perhaps has sentimental meaning to you or your family.

DIY Bunting Ideas for Your Wedding - mywedding | Paper party decorations diy, Paper chains, Diy book

Mince Pie Baubles: 

Over the festive period we eat thousands of these tasty treats, it is believed that on average an adult in the UK eats 24 mince pies in the festive period! Why not use the foil casing that mince pies come in to create beautiful metallic baubles for your tree. Sheila simply added some single buttons that she had to add a little more sparkle…!

Mince Pie & Tart Foil Cases | Aluminium Foil Cases | Baking Cases

HOW ELSE CAN YOU RECYCLE THIS CHRISTMAS?

At A R Richards we are passionate about doing the right thing. We want to offer our customers that very best service and equipment whilst being able to recycle over 97% of the waste that we process. Over Christmas the amount of rubbish that the UK produces is mind boggling.

As an example, it is expected that the average UK adult spends around £330 buying Christmas presents, and the average child will receive 16 gifts in total. With Christmas being celebrated in many countries around the world, and the world’s population standing at 7.8 billion people (as of December 2021), that’s a lot of wrapping paper, card board boxes, plastic packaging and name tags that need to be disposed of once Santa has visited!  Add to this the  one billion Christmas cards being sold in the UK alone each year, and the 17.2 million Brussels sprouts that go uneaten, and that’s even more waste that needs to be disposed of correctly, and as environmentally-friendly as possible.

As the statistics show, in the UK alone we create 30% more waste than usual during the festive period,  and this includes two million turkeys and six million Christmas trees. These are shocking amounts and they show that something has to be done by both businesses and consumers to reduce our impact on the planet. Simply, the more waste we send to landfill the more methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) that gets released into the air, and the more the temperature of the Earth rises. We are passionate at  A R Richards that we work to reduce this. 

We offer skip hire to Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire from as little as £130 + vat. Why not share this cost with a neighbour? Not only does it speed that Christmas clear up, it also ensures that you are doing your little bit for the environment. We want everyone to have the very best Christmas they can, but we want to ensure that Christmases in the future are still as brilliant for future generations.