Christmas Trees: Another Small Way To Care For The Planet

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I needed an all-your-Christmas-needs one-stop-shop on Sunday so I chose Ikea.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the flat-pack giant. The design is clever, and walking through the store is always a pleasure-rush of inspiration. But all the little “how we save you money” signs seem like an insult to the intelligence. We all know they’re a profitable retail giant, so a sign in the cafe telling us that cleaning up our own tray helps them to cut prices to the bone doesn’t really convince anyone that a plate of meatballs costs $6 to make.

But this is a positive Ikea story, and a lesson for any business that an ethical, ecologically-sound outlook is going to pay off at the cash register.

Ikea is doing two entire ranges of christmas bling this year. There’s a lovely range of your usual plastic, glass and sparkly metal baubles and beads, made in China and packed in plastic boxes. Being someone who’s easily hypnotised by shiny glittering objects I started a collection of these in a fashionable purple colour-scheme.

And then I noticed an entire other range of decorations packed in small wicker trays. These are made of straw, felt, wood and string. Although they don’t sparkle in the same way as their twinkling glass competition, once your eyes adjust to their existence the homespun, craft-like design is, I think, even more christmassy.

Lighting is all LED, which uses 90% less electricity than traditional tungsten bulbs and is definitely the hot eco-lighting choice for trees this year.

So, $120 and two 30c Ikea paper carrybags later, I walked out of the store feeling pretty good about my choices.

To be totally honest, I don’t know if the decorations are put together in a sweat-shop in Vietnam or by highly paid craftspeople high in the Swiss alps. I place a certain trust in Ikea being an ethical company, so I’ve make a leap of faith. But I can see that the materials and packaging are natural, and in the case of the straw almost a waste product, so I hope my choices mean an ounce less plastic pouring out of a factory somewhere this year.

Now, it’s true that Ikea would have got some money from me anyway, because I would have bought some glass baubles. But I wouldn’t have spent $120 and I don’t think I would have felt nearly as OK about it.

So, that’s a win-win all ’round I think.

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Filed under Environment, Urban Life

Tags: Christmas decorations, energy saving, Ikea, LED lighting, natural materials, straw products