The conscious consumer at Christmas

You can’t beat that feeling of excitement on Christmas Day when you finally get to rip open your pile of lovingly wrapped gifts. But what if there was an alternative to the mountains of waste that gets accumulated, with all that glittery wrapping paper going straight into the bin? Much of it isn’t even recyclable if it includes sticky tape, plastic, dye, foil and glitter. Robert Lockyer, a packaging entrepreneur in the luxury retail sector, believes the days of wrapping paper could soon be behind us as consumers and businesses around the world make more effort to end unnecessary waste. In a bid to ban micro-plastics, retail giants Waitrose and John Lewis have announced they will no longer stock Christmas crackers containing plastic toys from 2020. Marks & Spencer pledged that glitter would be removed from all its Christmas cards, wrapping paper, calendars and crackers this year. Moves like these continue to have an impact on combating the environmental crisis the world is in. But should we be doing more? Robert, the chief executive officer…

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