4 (and a bit) simple ethical hacks for your business this Christmas

2020 has been an unusual year, with many challenges thrown at us - (there’s still a few weeks to go, hold tight!). That shouldn't stop us thinking about how our businesses affect people and the planet and ways we should be cleaning-up our act.

As Patagonia CEO, Ryan Gellert says ‘Buy less, demand more’. Making small changes make a difference; we have to start somewhere - Christmas is no exception.  

Here are four (and a bit) simple and effective hacks that you can implement right now to help make a meaningful difference with your team this Christmas:

1) Christmas Jumper Day - do you need a new jumper?

Fast approaching on 11th December, a campaign that helps raise money and awareness for Save The Children. 100% participate, it’s great fun! But have a rethink how.

Instead of rushing to order the latest hilarious meme emblazoned jumper from eBay, consider wearing an old jumper (hopefully it still fits!) or buy one secondhand. Why? Now, more than ever before, fast-fashion and consumerism contribute massively to global warming, pollution and our carbon footprint. 

You may have read about the 'blue dogs of Mumbai' whose fur turned blue from swimming in water from dye and chemical polluted rivers. Sadly, the mass industrial dumping of toxic chemicals into rivers and the environment is prolific in some places in the world and our insatiable demand for clothes, not just Christmas jumpers can add massively to environmental pressures.

Many of us, myself included, used to buy a new jumper each year. I’d probably wear that jumper for 2-3 days max, once for the office party, a night out drinking with pals and perhaps on Christmas day. Not something you tend to wear regularly throughout January and February! That worked out at around ￡10 per wear!

Invariably the jumper was terrible quality, made from cheap materials which would misshape and shrink in the wash, an easy excuse to buy a new one. Those materials are often made entirely from plastic, 95% plastic as it was discovered.

Commonly, they are produced in countries with terrible treatment of workers, frequently in a sweatshop environment with dangerous working conditions.

Scarily, only 1% of clothing fabrics are recycled into new clothes, and the carbon footprint of textiles is more significant than all air travel and shipping combined.  

Environmental charity Hubbub estimated that around 12 million Christmas jumpers were bought last year in the UK. That’s despite 65 million jumpers bought in previous years. They describe the Christmas jumper as “one of the worst examples of fast fashion”.

The hilarious ‘I only get my baubles out once a year’ jumper doesn’t seem quite as funny anymore. 

Even my old school has jumped off the bandwagon and has banned Christmas Jumper Day, citing not only environmental concerns but financial pressures too. Good for them!

Perhaps instead of spending ￡30 on a new jumper, can you wear last year’s? Can you encourage your team to buy secondhand, swap with a friend or colleague or donate the intended purchase money directly to Save The Children instead?  

2) Plantbased catering

It’s going to be just about impossible to have a massive office Christmas party this year in the UK. But if you can cater to your team in some capacity or want to in future years, why not go for plant-based alternatives. 

The choices available this year are incredible with more plant-based Christmas ranges than ever before! Restaurants offer some delicious vegan roast options, and if you’re catering in-house, there are some fantastic options available.

Not just the main meal but party-foods too! Look for vegan beers and wines, those not made using gelatine, swim bladders of fish, crustacean shells, egg or bone marrow. YUK!

Eating more plant-based foods is not only considered healthier, but the environmental impact of switching is also huge. Eating a more plant-based diet can help fight climate change - our consumption of meat and dairy fuels global warming. Don’t just take my word for it, David Attenborough, UN experts and thousands of scientists globally recommend we reduce our meat and dairy and switch to plant-based. 

Joseph Poore, Researcher - University of Oxford, carried out extensive studies on over 40,000 farms in 119 countries looking at agriculture effects on water pollution, air pollution and climate change emissions. "A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use". 

Many businesses who have declared a climate emergency will only offer plant-based catering in an attempt to help reduce their impact on the planet - we included. This won’t appeal to everyone, but moving towards this, reducing the meat, fish and dairy options at your next party will be beneficial. You only have to go to a supermarket these days and see how the plant-based aisle is growing to know the choice and quality is delivering on taste too!

By inspiring your team to flip some plant-based alternatives in the Christmas meal will help and could encourage them to try more! It’s not like ten years ago where everything was like eating cardboard burgers; the meat alternatives are delicious! Flexitarians buy 90% of plant-based meat alternatives, a clear indication of the quality is meeting demand. 

Moorish in Norwich is doing a fantastic vegan meatloaf made with Beyond Meat, definitely worth a look!

3) Foodbank donation

This year especially, families and those in need on zero to low incomes are struggling to buy the basics. Christmas is a time for giving; it is a stark reminder that research shows that food banks are set to give out six emergency food parcels a minute this winter. The Trussell Trust also warns that with mass unemployment the rise in poverty and those classed as destitute will grow by more than 670,000.

Look up one of your local foodbanks and offer to help, invite them onto a Zoom call to talk to your team about what they do and encourage the team to donate money towards a food shop. 

We did this recently for The Feed Norwich and raised ￡400, which I doubled with Selesti to ￡800. We included plenty of Christmas treats to make it more special.

Even a 30p tin of soup makes a difference, so you can imagine what it means to these organisations and the people who rely on them to get donations from businesses this Christmas. Profit with purpose.

Once you have collected everyone’s money, call the food bank to ask them what they need most right now. They are usually well-stocked for pasta and rice, so best to check what they are running low on. It’s simple to organise an online shop and delivery directly to the foodbank.

4) Cards & Gifts!

You’ll definitely want to send your clients something nice as a thank you for working with you this year. Here are some ideas:

• Try to avoid sending Christmas cards, email a virtual card and plant a tree instead. You could even sign up to the Ecologi scheme and send your client of a tree you’ve had planted in Scotland.  
• You may inevitably want to send some cards, aim to use a recycled card with no glitter or plastic on it, and ideally, cards which raise money for charities.
• Go beyond Amazon and hunt down gifts from local independent suppliers. Not exactly a new concept but now more than ever, small independent shops need as much support as possible. Try turning to them before hitting up Prime.
• Direct to consumer sales with independent food and drink brands have boomed this year, for obvious reasons. Support them too, alongside local retailers - how about sending client’s some Bullard’s Eco Project Gin?
• If you do buy from Amazon, try to group deliveries into one. It will save a massive amount of CO2 and potentially less packaging.
• When it comes to wrapping paper, try to avoid the plastic, as shiny and colourful as it looks, it’s single-use and likely to end up in landfill or worse. There are lots of recycled wrapping papers and plastic-free tapes and decorations - you can even create your own branded Christmas tape!
• Gift cards are easy to send, often just by email. Many independent restaurants managed to survive the worst of lockdown by selling them. But they still need support, restaurants like Erpingham House offer e-vouchers and are a lovely gift for a client to enjoy.  

Doing anything that helps support local businesses and offers something different, is equally appreciated and reduces the impact on people and the planet - can only be a good thing.