Whilst many of us are looking forward to the festive season, a well earned period of rest and opportunity to spend time with family and friends, it's easy to forget about the impact of packaging and waste during the festive season.

With the presents stacked high and the smell of delicious food  making its way through the house, it is unlikely many of us will turn our thoughts toward the packaging of all of these gifts, food and pleasantries. However, when you start looking at the facts and figures associated with Christmas packaging, it can be both surprising and concerning.

Following is a small selection of Christmas packaging facts that apply to the UK only. Replicate these numbers around the world and it becomes clear that we all need to do what we can to minimise waste and increase recycling during the festivities.

Food Packaging and Waste

It is estimated that 10 million turkeys were consumed in the UK last Christmas resulting in over 3,000 tonnes of turkey packaging. In total, 125,000 tonnes of plastic wrapping used for food will be discarded over the festive period.

Brits will eat 25 million Christmas puddings, the majority of which will be wrapped in some form of plastic and cardboard packaging. Also, we eat 175 million mince pies. Putting this into perspective, 1 million mince pie cases equates to 1 tonne of aluminium material. Despite increased food consumption, UK residents will waste 54 million platefuls of food during December. As many as 500 million canned drinks are sold over the festive period. Recycling just one of these aluminium cans saves enough energy to run a set of Christmas tree lights for two whole hours! Taking into account wine and other bottled drinks, 13,350 tonnes of glass is binned every year during December and January. If all of this was recycled it could save 4,200 tonnes of CO2 – the same as taking 1,300 cars off the road every year.

Gift Packaging and Cards

So great is the British passion for cards and the wrapping of gifts with elaborate ribbons and bows that each Christmas we collectively throw away the equivalent of 40 million rolls of sticky tape and 108 million rolls or 226,800 miles of wrapping paper, which is enough to stretch nine times around the world. Brits love sending and giving cards, often even to people they see in person over Christmas. On average, each person in the UK will send / receive between 17 and 24 Christmas cards. It takes 1 tree to make 3,000 Christmas cards. Using the first estimate, 1 tree is only enough for 176 people to send cards to their loved ones. This then means that 1 billion Christmas Cards will end up in bins – the equivalent of 33 million trees!

People in the UK will use 189 million batteries over Christmas (and throw away seven batteries over this period).

Regrettably, when it comes to statistics regarding recycling, the numbers are not correspondingly great despite the fact that up to 70% of our waste can be recycled or reused. So, why not have a festive drink and think about how you can reduce your festive footprint this season. Oh, and don't forget to take the bottle to the bottle bank afterwards.

We wish you and your families a merry Christmas and a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!