Christmas is officially here and we last-minute shoppers are diving head-first into the Christmas chaos. If you are a conscious shopper like us, you will no doubt be looking to actively make an effort for sustainable options this year, are we right? So, now you’ve secured your Styelle Swimsuit for everyone from your bestie to the beach lover in your life, how can you continue making eco-friendly choices this festive season? With your gift-wrapping efforts of course. 

When it comes to Christmas shopping, being sustainable and ethical does not mean giving up Christmas cheer, quite the opposite. You can head through the festive season with a heart full of happiness knowing you made little impact on the earth while bringing joy to others with the gift-giving traditions. But remember to shop the Styelle-ish way, considering the impact and choices we get to make when shopping, supporting small ethical businesses who make an effort to produce sustainably or making your own gifts or buying quality over quantity getting a gift that will last.

Us Aussies alone use over 150,000km of wrapping paper every single year just throughout the holiday season, reports the National Storage 2018 round-up (and we can only imagine how much that has increased in the past five years). Now let's put this into perspective, that’s enough to wrap around the Earth’s equator almost four times over! Now imagine the rest of the world’s Styelle babes on top of that. 

Now, gift wrapping is such a crucial aspect of that Christmas joy, there is no better feeling than watching your loved ones unwrap their gifts in front of your eyes with the anticipation building as you clutch your Christmas morning coffee. However, there are little yet impactful choices we can make to avoid such sufficient waste around the holidays as conscious consumers and wrappers.

STAY AWAY FROM THE GLITTER! Yes, you read that right, unfortunately, that beautiful glistening glitter paper can not be recycled, it’s a closed-loop product with no eco-friendly life cycle as it is made from microplastics, which can take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose. So for that one moment of joy when unwrapping a gift, stick to the eco-friendly stuff instead of a paper that will take thousands of years to decompose after your one moment of gift-giving joy. 

Save your gift bags. Stop throwing away gift bags you’re given each year, save them and make a conscious effort to collect them after the wrapping fiasco so you can reuse them for each year to come. You can always add your own tag if needed in the future. Stop viewing products, that’s even gift bags as a one-time use. 

Cut out ribbons and bows! These are made of nasty plastics and synthetic fibres, it’s important with the amount of waste the holidays create in wrapping that we make conscious choices to avoid those materials that are terrible for the planet when wrapping our own gifts. Even the glue that allows you to stick your bows to your gift is detrimental to recycling mills and causes even further damage. 

Now we know what to avoid, consciously choose recyclable paper when selecting your wrap for your loved ones this year. You will find plenty of options and still a beautiful paper while knowing you’re helping the environment and choosing not to add to the detrimental waste. Why not even use this as a way to support a local small business in your town and find out what options they have? 

Don’t forget, of course, that we have great gift options here at Styelle Swim, from our use of biodegradable fabrics to our man-made cellulosic fibres, yep that’s right we’ve been using the latest luxury sustainable trend of these incredible little fibres from the beginning before the industry discovered their potential, I guess you could call us timeless trendsetters. You can find all our swimwear from bikinis to one-pieces made from this fabric to gift a timeless, durable and eco-friendly swim piece this season.