grass-fedLet’s be honest it’s virtually impossible not to get puntastic when it comes to Easter, but as Spring is the season where nature is reinvigorated and reborn after the harsh winter months, we shouldn’t be spoiling this beautiful season with an Easter of needless waste especially as MotherEarth is trying to revive herself.
Fortunately, going green this Easter doesn’t mean the fun has to stop! In fact here at SKOOT, we've got a number of recommendations and easy and simple tips not only for a sustainable Easter, but that also means you can have a lot of fun.
1. Eat all your chocolate - Fight food waste
We know we shouldn’t be encouraging overeating, but Food Waste contributes to about 8% of global greenhouse gasses so it is crucial that when we’re making meals, buying take-aways, or making cakes we minimise the amount we throw away.
If you are celebrating with others, ensure you plan in advance for your group size and if there are any leftovers use them in different ways over the next few days.
2. Help The Chicken Cross The Road - Go Vegan
Although the traditional Easter Sunday dish usually involves lamb (often transported from places like New Zealand) or a chicken for the eggs, think about t opting for a plant-based meal instead.
There are so many vegetarian and vegan options these days that taste just as delicious as meat.
However, if you are religious and meat is an important tradition for your Easter Sunday try to buy locally sourced organic and grass-fed meat as it is more environmentally friendly than normal meat.
3. Upcycle, Re-use and Re-cycle This Easter
Also, make sure you recycle any recyclable waste that comes with your easter holiday celebration. Nearly all easter eggs are wrapped in foil which is widely recyclable in the UK, just scrunch up the wrappers into balls and chuck them in the recycling bin which reduces the harmful disruption and damage being done to the natural world.
For the party people, who love throwing parties, having friends over for the great egg hunt, instead of buying new decorations try to repurpose what you already own, or think about making it part of the fun (who doesn’t love an egg painting party). Dig out this box and reuse these eggs for decoration purposes or even the egg hunt, instead of buying more to just throw them out which adds plastic to the landfill. Or make your own sustainable DIY decorations with things you already have lying around the house.
For some a great sustainable alcohol choice check out the guys at Hocus they have found a magical way to create multiple drinks using one base bottle, which means you can basically create a bar in your home without the need for 10 or so bottles of spirits. Think of all the glass, packaging, and distribution costs saved by that (and Strings one of our co-founders, wouldn't let us talk about chocolate, alcohol and easter without mentioning his beautiful chocolate liqueur La Maison Fontaine, made from an authentic recipe back in the '30s, distilled in Pontarlier France.
Easter baskets are usually filled with shreds of fake plastic grass, whilst this colourful grass is a fun decoration it is not very eco-friendly. It ends up being thrown away and the little shards of plastic can sometimes take 450 years to decompose!
Instead of plastic use coloured shredder paper which can easily be recycled after the holiday. And rather than purchasing a new plastic basket consider buying a more expensive wooden basket that can be reused or even check out local thrift and charity shops to see if they have any you can buy second hand.
For the party people, who love throwing parties, having friends over for the great egg hunt, instead of buying new decorations try to repurpose what you already own, or think about making it part of the fun (who doesn’t love an egg painting party). Dig out this box and reuse these eggs for decoration purposes or even the egg hunt, instead of buying more to just throw them out which adds plastic to the landfill. Or make your own sustainable DIY decorations with things you already have lying around the house.
4 Drink Sustainably #hiptohic
For some a great sustainable alcohol choices, check out the guys at Hocus they have found a magical way to create multiple drinks using one base bottle, which means you can basically create a bar in your home without the need for 10 or so bottle of spirits. Think of all the glass, packaging, and distribution costs saved by that (and Strings one of our co-founders, wouldn't let us talk about chocolate, alcohol and Easter without mentioning his beautiful chocolate liqueur La Maison Fontaine, made from an authentic recipe back in the 30's, distilled in Pontarlier France).
There's a great list here of some more sustainable brands on Country and Townhouse.
5. Eggcellent free range, organic eggs
Organic eggs have a much lower carbon footprint than conventional eggs. The chickens must be fed 100% vegetarian feed, no herbicides or fertilisers, which makes them much less damaging for the environment.
Organic eggs are also much better for you, they have twice as much omega 3 fatty acids and a much higher percentage of vitamins A and E than normal eggs.
6. The Great Egg-scape
Easter with the double bank holiday, school holidays, and changing weather is one of the busiest times for the Easter get-away, whether it’s a weekend away with friends or family, or the escape abroad.
The RAC believe that this Easter is likely to see the busiest UK’s roads in the last eight years. It’s estimated that 21.5 million trips will be made by car between Good Friday and Easter Monday. Given that every mile 300g of carbon dioxide is released by a car, if they travel an average of 10 miles, that over 210 million miles, that’s 63k tonnes of carbon dioxide. There are a few ways to help. Don’t idle your car when waiting, use SKOOT for green navigation, to plant trees and drive and grow, and share lifts.
When it comes to flying, if you do need to fly because you can’t use the train, then ensure you offset your flights, and pick the greenest option you can.
Skyskanner has a great article here about why it’s so important when flying why to pick a greener option and what you can do to help
“Choosing to fly green will have a positive effect on the world, benefiting travelers who are out exploring today and, importantly, those who will explore local and distant destinations tomorrow. It’s no surprise that more and more people are looking for ways to offset their travel”.
Hopefully our top-tips for a more sustainable easter also help show that being sustainable doesn’t mean the fun police are looking over your shoulder, but just remember Mother Nature is.
At SKOOT we believe it's the small changes that make the big difference to climate change.
