Merry 'Green' Christmas: Australia ramps up recycling for a cleaner holiday season

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The Christmas holiday is known for many things - including a time for gift giving and family traditions. It also holds another distinction - the time of year when we have the greatest impact on the environment. But environmental groups say there are some simple steps you can take to ensure a merry, and "green" Christmas. Greg Navarro explains.

Let's start with the centrepiece for most Christmas displays - even in a hot December climate and the age-old debate - whether to buy a real or fake tree.

From an environmentally friendly perspective, "That's a hard one. There are lots of arguments against real trees." Especially, says Jayne Paramor, who is the deputy director for environmental group Boomerang Alliance, considering that real Christmas trees get used for a month or so and then get tossed away. For Leo Demasi, the choice is easy.

LEO DEMASI OWNER, DURAL CHRISTMAS TREE FARM "Nothing beats when you wake up in the morning and walk out and you can just smell the tree - for a moment there you just realise, wow it is Christmas."

Thousands of Demasi's trees are trimmed, transported, wrapped and stuffed into the back of vehicles each year. The difference here is that Demasi urges people to bring them back to his tree farm to get mulched - the end product is used to help future crops grow.

LEO DEMASI OWNER, DURAL CHRISTMAS TREE FARM "It's actually holding the moisture in the ground, especially the drought we've just been through, it's made a difference for the trees definitely."

GREG NAVARRO SYDNEY "Environmental groups say there are many ways we can lessen the impact on the environment at this time of the year while still enjoying the holiday - it just takes a little thinking outside of the box."

JAYNE PARAMOR DEPUTY DIRECTOR, BOOMERANG ALLIANCE "Rather than going out and using glossy, shiny paper that you see around the place there is some lovely ways of doing things in terms of things like fabric."

The biggest issue at this time of the year - is all of that extra plastic - much of it used around potential gifts.

JAYNE PARAMOR DEPUTY DIRECTOR, BOOMERANG ALLIANCE "If you can choose an alternative, for example we recommend that people buy things like books or wooden toys or perhaps go through the process of recycling toys."

Also consider gifts such as reusable cutlery, or alternatives to plastic straws. Make your own paper decorations instead of using plastic ones, go solar when it comes to lights. And if you do pick an artificial tree, try to find one made out of recycled plastic and make sure you use it for many years to come. Greg Navarro, CGTN, Sydney.