Support our campaigns this festive season

The festive season is a time for fun, sharing gifts with friends and family, and of course enjoying delicious food. But it’s also a chance to make a difference in support of WI campaigns. This post gives you some top tips - from tackling unnecessary plastic waste to reaching out to combat loneliness.

Stay updated with the latest resolution news and campaign actions by subscribing to the NFWI’s Public Affairs Digest, an e-newsletter sent to your inbox once a month. You can sign up via the website.

End Plastic Soup

Our End Plastic Soup campaign seeks to raise awareness of the problem of marine pollution from microplastic fibres released from clothing when it is washed. Here are some ways you can help reduce your impact over the Christmas season.

Tackle clothing waste

• One rubbish truck full of textiles is landfilled or burnt every second. Instead of buying new clothes for your loved one that may not fit or suit them why not swap a clothing gift for a ticket to an event or activity, or a gift voucher that allows them to choose something they really love?  

• If you are given clothing that doesn’t quite fit or you don’t like, hold a clothes swap at your WI in the New Year or try upcycling the item to your taste or turn it into something else altogether! 

• New research from charity Hubbub found that one in four Christmas jumpers bought last year were thrown away or were unlikely to be worn again. Instead of buying a new jumper every year, dig out your old Christmas jumpers, swap with a friend or even refashion something you already own into a festive jumper. 

Wash well

• With lots of events and visitors over the Christmas period you may be washing clothes more often – ensure you are filling up your washing machine to the max, washing at a low temperature (30°) and using washing liquid instead of powder. These measures will help to reduce the amount of microplastic fibres released when washing your clothes. 

Avoid plastic waste

• Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. Tackle disposable and single-use plastics by avoiding serving people with plastic plates, cups and straws and use paper or china if you are entertaining guests. 

• Single-use plastics include coffee cups and plastic bottles. Only 1% of disposable coffee cups are recycled, with the UK throwing away 2.5 billion of them a year. 38.5million plastic bottles are used every day in the UK – just over half make it to recycling, while more than 16m are put into landfill, burnt or released into the oceans. Once in the ocean they break down further into microplastics which fish can mistake for food. Re-usable alternatives are available - why not consider a re-usable aluminium water bottle or re-usable coffee cup as a gift and use it as a way to tell your friend or family member about the WI’s campaigns to tackle plastic waste. 

• Take inspiration from the NFWI Craft Committee’s creative, fun projects that use resources which would otherwise be thrown away. Why not use old milk bottles to make our festive fir tree or turn jam and baby food jars into a hot chocolate kit?

• The WI successfully campaigned to get a charge introduced for plastic bags in order to tackle waste. You can avoid using plastic bags for your Christmas shopping by using a bag for life or the WI’s cotton bag. 

Link Together

Our Link Together campaign recognises that loneliness can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender and life stage. The festive season is a great opportunity to reach out to others in your community.

• A small act of kindness could make a real difference to someone’s day over the festive period, such as calling a fellow member you haven’t spoken to in a while or taking the time to speak to neighbours who may be lonely. For more ways to get involved with the campaign, download our action pack.

Food Matters

Christmas is a time to enjoy good food and good company, but this can often mean more waste too. We can all play our part in reducing the waste that often comes with the festive season. Our Food Matters campaign focuses on reducing food waste so that good food isn’t wasted at all levels of the food chain.

Credit: iStock.com/Eivaisl

• According to Wildlife and Countryside Link, 114,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will end up in the bin - and not recycled - over the festive period. To avoid unnecessary wasteful packaging, buy your fruit and vegetables loose and be aware of what types of plastic can be recycled.

• No matter how hard you try there is bound to be some leftover food at the end of the festivities – you could use the leftover turkey to turn it into a completely different meal like this WI recipe for turkey in a leek and mustard sauce. Love Food Hate Waste also has lots of ideas about how to use up all your Christmas leftovers.

• Recycle your Christmas tree – if your tree has roots it will be possible to plant it in your garden or in a large pot with fresh compost, you can then bring it back into your house for next year. If your tree cannot be re-planted, check whether your council collects Christmas trees (which they usually turn into compost). If they don’t, then take it to the garden waste area of your local tip. Find your local council here. 

SOS for honey bees

While our honey bees will be tucked up in their hives for the cold weather, now is the time to start thinking about how you can support these precious pollinators once spring arrives. Our SOS for Honey Bees campaign calls for more research into the causes of bee decline, and for communities to create habitats to support pollinators.

• Now is the time to plan your spring planting, ensuring there’s plenty of pollen and nectar for bees to forage on throughout the seasons. Make your garden bee friendly using our gardening guide by planting these flowers. 

SOS for High Streets 

Our high streets campaign encourages members to celebrate their local high streets and urges decision makers to support high streets that are fit for the future. 

• Over the last ten years changes in shopping habits have hit the high street hard. When combined with a slowdown in consumer spending and increasingly high rental and business rates, many high street businesses are struggling. By shopping local to buy your gifts and food you are supporting the high street as a hub of social and community life. You can read more about the campaign online.