People just realising they have been unwrapping presents wrong

There’s only a few days left until Christmas, and it’s likely you’re putting the final preparations underway for the big day. One of the biggest tasks is making sure you’ve done all of your shopping, closely followed by the wrapping of the gifts. 

Some love it, some hate it, but it’s an essential part of the festive magic. Tearing open those gifts when you’ve got no idea what’s inside is so exciting – but according to experts, we’ve been doing it wrong all these years. And even though it’s Christmas, people are being urged not to ignore the impact that wrapping paper can have on the environment. 

The average child is said to receive between 10 and 15 gifts under the tree each year, which are often each individually wrapped.

All those gifts contribute to over 100 million rolls of wrapping paper, or the equivalent of 50,000 trees, and the three and a half black bags of festive packaging sent to landfills each Christmas.

But according to Carrick Signs Printers, there is a simple wrapping paper test that people can do to see if they can recycle their Christmas wrapping paper. 

Mandy Roscoe at Carrick Sign Printers said: “The simplest way to tell whether wrapping paper is recyclable is to use the “scrunch test.”

She explained: “Crumple the paper into a ball – if it stays scrunched, it can usually be recycled with your regular paper recycling, as long as it’s free of glitter.

“If it unfolds or springs back, it isn’t recyclable because it likely contains plastic or foil.

“Just remember, if it passes the scrunch test, make sure to remove any plastic tape, tags, bows, or ribbon attached to the paper.”

If you’re looking to cut down on waste this year, an easy way to do this is choose recyclable paper. A good rule of thumb is to go for ones without glitter or foil, as these break down much easier, but they still look festive. 

Brown paper is versatile as well as recyclable, and you can easily customise it or add festive touches like ribbons or string for a personalised touch. 

Or, if you want to eliminate wrapping altogether, use a stocking instead. Not only does this double as an extra gift, there’s no paper waste involved at all, and you can reuse the stocking year after year.