Joy to the world! John Lewis and Waitrose have opted to ban glitter from all their single-use Christmas products, including gift wrap, bags, crackers, and cards. This is the best news we've heard all week (and we all need some positive news these days).
- Check out our guide to eco-friendly gifts for Christmas – not a plastic thing in sight there
What's the issue with glitter? Well, glitter is basically micro plastics: the tiny bits inevitably make their way into waterways and then oceans – and the into the stomachs of fish and sea animals and, as has recently been revealed, even into human bodies.
Christmas products are huge culprits in this disturbing micro plastic cycle. The UK alone throws away one billion Christmas cards every year, and, contrary to what some people believe, most cards aren't recycled precisely because of the use of plastic either to laminate the card or the glitter sprayed on top of it.
It's a huge step in the right direction to stop using glitter in single-use Christmas products , and we hope that other big Christmas product manufacturers will follow suit. So, save the glitter for multi-use Christmas decorations that you're not planning on throwing away any time soon. Our favourites from John Lewis's Christmas collection this year include the very pretty Rainbow bauble, with 25 per cent of sales for each of them going to NHS charities. We also have a soft spot for the Rainbow Paint Palette Bauble – so cute and unusual.
Read more:
- How to have a sustainable Christmas
- DIY Christmas decorations: 10 easy ideas to create a unique festive feel
