Inspired by the little black dress workshop at our Zero Waste Christmas event last night our 4^th Zero Waste Christmas blog looks at how we can love the clothes that we have.

There is an estimated £140 million worth of clothing going to UK landfills every year. Love Your Clothes is a national campaign which aims to reduce that by providing useful tips and advice to help look after our clothes.

Christmas is a big season for fashion, getting dressed up for Christmas parties and New Year celebrations and the change in the weather meaning we’re digging out our woolly jumpers and winter coats, not to mention those festive Christmas jumpers.

So what can we do to make sure what we have, and what we buy lasts and keep it out of landfill? Love Your Clothes provides lots of tips and advice here’s a few:

• Buy Quality: Think before you buy and buy quality clothes, the investment will be worth it as your clothes will last longer.
• Borrow & Hire: If you’re looking for a special outfit that you’ll only wear once or twice why not borrow one from your friends or hire it. There’s a lot of website out there where you can hire beautiful dresses that will wow, like Girl Meets Dress and Dream Wardrobe. You could even club together with your friends to buy a really special dress together to share.
• Take Care: look after your clothes: check the care label and wash them properly; turn jeans inside out when washing stop them fading; tumble dry sparingly, it wears clothes out, and fold and hang your clothes properly to keep their shape.
• Donate: We all change our style, if you’re no longer wearing something you have donate it to a charity shop, or host a clothes swapping with your friends.
• Revamp: If you’ve grown tired of your clothes a change that doesn’t mean you need to buy new and throw out your old. You can change the buttons, iron on a transfer images, add lace to a sleeve – there are lots of options. Here’s a few photos of dress makeover and iron transfers from the workshop Love Your Clothes ran for us last night for inspiration. You can also see our temporarily up-cycled Christmas jumpers here.
• Repair: Stains, moth holes, split seams, faded clothes and dull whites – they don’t mean you have to throw your clothes out. You can get that stubborn stain out with a neat trick, darn a heart over a moth hole, fix that seam, dye your faded clothes and use a brightener on your whites. Check out the tips and tutorials from Love Your Clothes with step by step guides to repair your clothes. Don’t forget if you can’t manage it yourself you can look up your local tailor.
• Repurpose: If your clothes can’t be repaired, aren’t suitable for donating or are a favourite that you want to keep the possibilities of repurposing are almost endless. Baby grows could become a cute quilt, your favourite bands t-shirt can become a cushion cover or your old socks a draught excluder. And keep and your scraps, they are great for using as stuffing. Check out our repurposed jumper that we turned into 2 Christmas stockings, a hat, mittens and a wee snowman.
• Recycle: if it comes down to it, it can’t be repaired, donated or repurposed – recycle your old clothes. Dunbar as several clothing banks, use your postcode to find your closest one here.

Visit www.loveyourclothes.co.uk for lots more practical tips and step by step guides, including: how to choose the perfect winter coat; altering a seam; and removing stains.

For our Third Zero Waste Christmas blog we’re thinking about trees. Few things make us feel more Christmassy than getting our tree up and decorated but there’s a lot of debate out there over which trees are best for the environment, real or fake?

While fake trees can usually be re-used year on year, and a cut real tree just the once, The Ecologist reports that the average fake fir creates 40kg of CO2 during its lifetime, from production to landfill while a real tree creates 3.5kg if it’s composted. To even out that CO2 difference we’d want our fake tree to last at least 11 years.

But let’s think outside the box, a fake tree doesn’t need to be plastic. We’ve had our eye out and have seen some fantastic examples of reusable and reused Christmas trees out there. Cardboard, paper, driftwood, fabric. Have a walk down the High Street and you’ll see a wonderful variety. These alternative trees have an extra layer of Christmas fun, making your tree, and decorating it, can be a new family activity, and have that extra personal touch, which make Christmas all the more special.

When it comes to real trees there a few things to think about too, like where is the tree from, and how was it grown? You can ask your seller. Environmentally wise think local and ask about sustainable forestry, for example Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. Potted trees are becoming increasingly common too, with these you can keep the tree inside for Christmas, and enjoy it in your garden all year long, just remember to look after it so it lasts.

When it comes to taking down your tree don’t forget to have it recycled. East Lothian Council have three ways for us to have our real trees recycled by composting them. For details see their website:

‘If you have a brown bin, please present the tree beside it on your collection day. Alternatively, contact 01875 824 305 to arrange an uplift, or take it to one of East Lothian’s Recycling Centres.’

We all have our own preference to the kind of tree we want in our homes but when we’re picking our tree here’s a few things to keep in mind:

If you choose fake, choose quality, invest in a tree that will last;

• Think about alternative trees, but don’t forget to think about the ‘end’ for your tree, make it recyclable and keep it out of landfill;
• If you choose real look for local, consider potted so you can reuse it and, when it’s time to let your tree go, have it recycled.

Do you have an alternative tree at home, share it with us on our Facebook page and check out our Pinterest for lots of inspiration and ideas.

We’re busy getting ready for our Zero Waste Christmas event this Wednesday and we’d love join us and help us decorate our cardboard Christmas Tree. Wednesday 10^th December 7-9pm, the Bleachingfield Centre, Dunbar.

Welcome to the second day of our Zero Waste Christmas. Today’s topic is one of those Christmas conundrums, Secret Santa! It’s the same in offices across the country, you’ve pulled a name out the hat and now you’re franticly trying to remember who Dave is and figure out what on earth you can get him for £5 or under.

Well, steer away from those gag gifts that will end up in the bin come Boxing Day, we’ve got the answer for some fun Secret Santa gifts to be enjoyed by all and to keep out of landfill. Do something different, organise a zero waste themed Secret Santa this year. The possibilities are almost endless. Here’s a few themes that we’ve seen in offices over the years:

Locally Made: Discover your local shops and share the treats that they hold. It could be local jam or chocolates, a locally made scarf, it’s a great chance to support your local shops and designers and discover something new.

Gifts from Charity Shops: Charity shops have a fantastic range of gifts, from crystal vases to DVDs this is a brilliant way to get something really nice and fun with your Secret Santa pennies and supports great causes too.

Handmade Gifts: If you’re a creative bunch you could give this a go, even if you’re not you might surprise yourself and your colleagues. Favourites we’ve seen around include: egg box garden kits complete with seeds; lavender scented sock bunnies; Christmas cookies, chilli oil, Lemoncello, a recipe book and Christmas bunting.

Edible (and drinkable) gifts: Surely this is a gift that won’t find its way into the bin, it could be a couple of local craft beers, some special chocolates, you could even do some home baking.

Recipes: This could be one yummy treat. For this Secret Santa give your favourite recipes. You might even be lucky and find a flurry of home baked treats in the office in the New Year. You could collect all your recipes together and make an office recipe book to give to everyone.

Books: What is a greater gift that a good book? If you’re colleagues are the literary type this could be a great idea. Share your favourite books, or a book found in a charity shop. You could even use them to start a re-use book library in the breakout lounge.

Re-used form Home: We all have those things in our house, the ouzo we brought back from holiday and haven’t touched, the recipe book that we bought forgetting we already had a copy at home, the scented candles we won in a raffle 3 years ago that are still unopened in the cupboard under the stairs. Well this Secret Santa gives you a chance to give a re-used gift from home. You’ll be amazed at what your colleagues will uncover and the fun you’ll all have with it.

Santa’s Charity: Give to a good cause, those that wish to take part donate an agreed amount (e.g. £2, £5) into a Santa’s Charity Pot and their name also goes in a hat. When you’re ready pull a name out of the hat and that lucky person gets to nominate a charity important to them to receive this year’s full Santa’s Charity Pot.

Are you planning a Zero Waste Secret Santa? Let us know and share your ideas and inspiration on our Facebook and Twitter.

Keep following our Zero Waste Christmas for lots more ideas on zero waste presents and all your Christmas details, right down to the bows on your wrapping paper.

It’s the first of December, Christmas lights are twinkling, our festive hats and mittens are keeping us cosy and we’re looking forward to our daily advent chocolate. It’s that time of year again: Christmas Time! Easily our favourite time of year in the Zero Waste Dunbar team, we love the lights, the happiness, the excitement, the fun of it all. However, there’s one thing about Christmas that we never look forward to – the waste.

The facts and stats say that over Christmas time in the UK we will use enough wrapping paper to reach the moon, needing 50,000 trees to be cut down to do it, and up to a billion of our well-meant Christmas cards will end up in landfill.

So let’s do something about it! Throughout December Zero Waste Dunbar will be running a Zero Waste Christmas Campaign with daily tips and inspiration to help us all reduce our waste and enjoy a Zero Waste Christmas. Remember, Zero Waste doesn’t mean Zero Fun, we absolutely love Christmas and we will be celebrating in style, environmentally friendly style. Over the next 24 days we’ll be looking at cards, wrapping, presents, decorations and of course that all import Christmas dinner.

We’re also hosting a Zero Waste Christmas Event on Wednesday 10^th December 2014 7-9pm, at the Bleaching Field Centre. Come along and join us for a glass of festive fizz and be inspired to: re-style and re-love your old party dress by our guest fashion designer; up-cycle those old Christmas decorations; get your portions right to save on food waste; and get your house winter ready with free draft proofing from the Household Canny Challenge.

Everyone is welcome, young and old, there will be is something for everyone.

Follow us on our Blog like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Pinterest to keep up to date, get inspired and get involved with our Zero Waste Christmas.