A mountain of gifts and goods make their way out of stores and into homes like yours and ours each festive season. But, have you ever thought about how many of them move on to landfill by January?

Slowing the migration is as easy as setting your family the challenge “how little can we send to landfill this Christmas?” With a target to make your wheelie bin as empty as you can each week, you will all make decisions that reduce your waste.

Sit the team down before Christmas and talk about ways to reuse, reduce and recycle. Here are some ideas to get you started…

Plastic-free picnics
Disposable plastic plates and cups are made from petrochemicals, creating pollution in their production and when thrown out they sit in landfill for ever. Choose re-usable plates that you wash up or use palm leaf plates, a stylish plant alternative. They add a lovely eco style to your table and can be put onto your garden as mulch, rather than in the bin.

Trim a living tree
When Santa arrives in his carbon-neutral sleigh, surprise him with a live Australian Wollemi pine. This recently discovered prehistoric tree is now available in nurseries. A potted Wollemi can grow with your family to be trimmed year after year. Or, why not make it a tradition to find a lovely Eucalyptus branch that can be composted when the festivities are over. Biome is also launching this year, Australia's first tree made from post consumer waste.

Wrap it again
A great way to stretch the budget and save piles of waste is to wrap presents in newspaper, magazines and even junk mail. For children use the comics, for car lovers use the motoring pages. Instead of wrapping, place gifts inside re-usable shopping bags, or sew cloth bags from festive material that your family can re-tie with ribbon every year. For an extra special finish, Earth Greetings make beautiful wrap from post consumer waste paper, printed with vegetable inks.

Detour past the bin
Ask yourself, is this gift likely to end up in the bin within a few weeks? If yes, choose something else. The old saying “quality not quantity” is a great friend of the planet. Even the cheapest items use the planet’s limited resources, energy and water to manufacture. Rather than buy a risky gift, consider a gift voucher or make a donation to a charity on behalf of the person. Should you receive an unsuitable gift, pass it straight on to the Salvos.

A gift for your garden
Food scraps make up a large portion of rubbish and once in landfill they generate methane, a concentrated greenhouse gas. Compost at home instead and turn leftovers into fertiliser for your garden. The Bokashi bin is a popular system that sits conveniently in your kitchen.

Packaging-free paradise
Picture a paradise where Christmas morning is free from mounds of discarded plastic packaging. It only takes a little extra thought and effort. Locally made and hand-made gifts are less likely to be over-packaged. And, a trip to the local Farmer’s Markets will help you stock up on fresh, festive food with minimal packaging. Hand made ceramic decorations

Instead of “talking rubbish”, your family will soon be asking “is this for landfill, recycling or composting?”

Visit Biome's Eco Christmas department with lots more exciting choices for Christmas and the festive season.

Christmas late shopping nights in December

Paddington (2 Latrobe Tce - parking at rear) >> every Thursday until 8pm

City (215 Adelaide Street - $8 parking under Post Office Square after 4pm) >> every Friday until 8pm