3 Tips to Make Sustainable CNY Celebrations
Chinese New Year is finally approaching after a tumultuous year!
By Nicholas Ng
February 9, 2021
The coming year marks the year of the Ox and in Chinese culture, oxen symbolize attributes such as, resilience, being grounded, trustworthiness, and hard work. Oxen have also been depicted as such in religion, art, literature, and popular culture across East Asia.
This Chinese New Year let us all be as resilient as ox in the face of the pandemic and overcome this altogether! Here are some tips on how you can stay safe and adopt sustainable practices during the holiday.
1. Clean your house in an eco-friendly manner
When de-cluttering your home, consider donating usable items that are still in good condition to the needy. For example, you could donate older clothing which are still in good condition, to the needy. Also, you do not necessarily have to follow auspicious practices of wearing new clothes during the new year.
Instead of getting new table clothes, old clothing particles that are not suitable to be worn can be cut and used as tablecloths or to wipe windows.
2. Stop overwrapping, bring your reusable shopping bag
It's always a joy to receive gifts, especially during this festive season Try to re-use boxes and baskets from your gift sets, and if possible, even wrapping paper and ribbons! Opt for more eco-friendly choices wrapping methods; For instance, If you need to wrap something fragile, wrap it with old newspaper instead of bubble wrap as it is easier to bio-degrade. Do not forget your reusable shopping bags, which you should carry around at all times!
3. Avoid food wastage by sharing food
Feasting often comes along with a lot of wasted food and we can reduce food waste by sharing food as much as possible. Of course, this does not mean you literally share from the same plate of food which is not encouraged during the pandemic. One way this can be done is to make meals into potlucks, where guests contribute too instead of just the host. This is because hosts tend to prepare more than enough for everyone as it is a sign of abundance. But ironically that mindset is a cause for high food wastage and scarcity in other part of the world.
As much as CNY is a joyous occasion for us, let's make a conscious effort to enjoy it sustainably as well.
Here's wishing you a Happy New Year from the Sunseap Team! Stay safe and enjoy the holidays!
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