Make 2019 the year you only buy what you need

Christmas is a time of celebration, when friends and family come together (and sometimes fall out).  A time of joy.

It is often too a time of excess. Waste of all types from food to plastic and paper being produced on a huge scale.

So Christmas should also be a time for reflection on how we live, maybe with a view to making resolutions to live more environmentally sustainably in the New Year.

The challenge for us all going forward is to live more simply, treading more lightly on the earth. This means reversing much of the consumption based economic model that rules today.

It is estimated that 18 million tonnes of food end up in landfill in the UK each year. In the US, 40% of food produced goes to waste.

This is at a time when millions struggle to feed themselves, what a scandal.

At the very least this food should be being redirected to charitable causes like food banks. However, the real challenge is to stop over producing food. Why not just buy what we need, make sure we are not throwing food away?

It might mean shops stocking less but is that not better than throwing it away.

The plastics crisis has reached epidemic proportions. David Attenborough’s excellent Blue Planet series underlined the seriousness of the situation, with animals imbibing plastics, as well as getting tangled up in the stuff. The planet is literally choking.

We need to stop producing plastic and excess food , simply recycling is not enough.

There are signs of positive change.

One of the most encouraging developments have been moves made by many high streets to go plastic free. It is an ambition we should pursue in Wanstead as part of the new environmental charter initiative.

There are plenty of people out there keen to see Wanstead high street go plastic free but they need a response from business.  

The shops have a key role to play in making our environment a more environmentally sustainable place to live.

The supermarket Budgens has shown the way, with its shop in Camden aiming to go “virtually plastic free” within three years. Some 1700 products at the store have switched to plastic free packaging.

Imagine if our supermarkets in Wanstead took such a step, the people would no doubt flock to support such an initiative.

These type of moves need to be our resolutions going forward.

At present humankind is choking the earth, with its destructive way of life. The time has come to reverse this way of living, looking to a simpler more sustainable mode of existence that co-exists sustainably with those other creatures, with which we share the planet.

Published - Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 20/12/2018