We're dreaming of a green Christmas

Susan Clayton describes just one of the ways she manages to keep Christmas as eco-friendly as possible for herself, husband Henry and children Alex, 11, and nine-year-old Eleanor.

"I keep Christmas cards every year, and Eleanor uses them to make cards for friends and family. The cards we don't keep we take to be recycled."

Cards are also used to make gift tags, and, says Susan, of Oakenshaw, "if I am given any nice gift bags during the year I will keep them and re-use them". The same, she adds, applies to wrapping paper.

Shopping is a mixture of local produce, supermarket goods and Fairtrade.

"I always look at Fairtrade and try to buy it where possible, and the same goes for organic - depending on the price. It is amazing how much bigger the organic section in supermarkets has become. I would like to buy completely organic, but cost is a consideration."

She adds: "I also buy locally-grown produce, which we know has come from the area."

Adds Henry: "We go to our local farm shop down the road which we want to support. We buy local meat if possible and if we are buying from the supermarket we always buy British meat and British potatoes."

• If you're dreaming of a green Christmas, there is no reason why you shouldn't have one. By putting to use your recycling skills and keeping an eye out for green products, you can turn the festive season into the eco-season.

Gifts
Stores across the UK are, more than ever before, encouraging shoppers to be green this Christmas with a wide choice of eco-friendly food and gifts.

The M&S eco-gifts' range include stylish recycled stationery, toys and useful gadgets. Few shoppers will readily associate the high street store with products such as a wormery, a foldaway bike and a solar-powered portable radio. But they are there, among a host of goods that allow people to give a gift, and do their bit for the environment. Shoppers can also opt to buy online at the M&S new Greener Living Shop.

"This is all part of M&S's Plan A', which aims to increase the amount of sustainable raw materials the company uses, send no waste to landfill and become carbon neutral by 2012," says Liam Gill, store manager in Bradford.

Food as gifts includes the Co-op's first Fairtrade Christmas Gift Set - a collection of Fairtrade foods packed into a reusable box.

Charities are offering gifts that benefit the Third World. Presents ranging from goats to toilets to health check-ups can be bought from Oxfam Unwrapped, a service through which people can help those less fortunate than themselves. You can even contribute towards the charity's Make Sure a Waterworks Works' scheme, by helping communities look after their fresh water points.

There are internet shopping sites in abundance offering gifts, with companies such as Traidcraft - a Fairtrade business selling food, drink and gifts produced in the Third World - offering on-line shopping as well as catalogue services.

Food
Buying locally is a vital part of a greener lifestyle, and many small, specialist retailers source produce from within Yorkshire, cutting food miles. Farm shops and local box schemes are ideal places to find locally-reared meat or home-grown vegetables.

Supermarkets and high street stores have pushed the boat out this Christmas, to allow customers to enjoy a merry, ethical Christmas.

Bradford-based Morrisons has a wide range of organic and free-range products. Says a company spokesman: "Our customers are interested in food provenance and environmental issues; therefore we are making a conscious effort to ensure that there is a good and varied range of locally-sourced, fair trade, organic and higher animal welfare products available through our stores."

All the Co-op's fresh turkeys will be Freedom Food accredited. This scheme, set up by the RSPCA and which includes meat and fish, is the only farm assurance scheme dedicated to improving farm animal welfare. The community-based retailer has also sourced a number of Fairtrade lines, including the UK's first ever Fairtrade Christmas pudding - the mincemeat has been made using 37 per cent Fairtrade ingredients - and fruit mince pies. Fairtrade wines are also on sale.

M&S's wide range of organic and Fairtrade goods include coffee and tea, biscuits, nuts and preserves. Their own-brand food range includes donations to the homeless charity Shelter.

Giftwrap
Environmentally-friendly, recycled wrapping paper is available, and you can plan ahead for a sustainable Christmas 2008 by carefully removing this year's wrapping to use next year. Avoid buying glossy or metallic paper as this kind of material is difficult to recycle. Instead of sticky tape, try ribbons. Save any special wrap, ribbons and bows to use again. For ideas look at www.greenandeasy.co.uk

Cards and decorations
Design and send electronic Christmas cards - it is eco-friendly and fun. If you've got children, you can make cards. If you remembered to hang on to last year's, use those. If not, get hold of some card, and stick on designs cut from magazines, or simply draw your own. If you are sending them within your own community, walk to deliver them, rather than paying for postage. Remember to keep old cards to recycle or to cut up and re-use as gift tags.

Trees
If you are opting for a real tree, buy from a sustainable source such as Yorkshire Christmas Trees in Denholme. You can also help the environment by buying an artificial tree. This year M&S is planting a real tree for every artificial tree sold this year.