A Green Christmas: 3 Ways to Make Your Office Party More Sustainable

‘Tis the season for office parties. Your company Christmas party is the perfect time to reflect on the past year and celebrate how much the company has achieved. However, office parties can also be notoriously wasteful. Have you considered how to make your celebration as sustainable as possible? Remember to keep the environment in mind when enjoying your office holiday gathering. Here are a few ideas to make sure your office party is as green as possible.

Invest in reusable decorations and cutlery

While it may be easy to get a cheap assortment of disposable holiday decorations, you can actually save a good amount of money by investing in decorations that will last for years to come. Flimsy streamers and fake snow might be cute, but they are difficult to reuse and result in more waste being sent to the landfill. Invest in a few sets of string lights and hang some reusable stockings instead. The same principle can be applied to the plates and silverware you use. No one likes to do dishes, but the convenience of using single-use plastics doesn’t outweigh the environmental costs.

Cater food from a local farm-to-table restaurant

When it comes to the food, consider catering in food from a nearby farm-to-table restaurant. When ingredients are locally-sourced, fewer resources are used to transport food across the country. The produce doesn't have to be shipped long distances, meaning less time on a truck and fewer greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere. Plus, your company can pride itself on supporting a local business and enjoy the fresh ingredients.

Use small plates to prevent food waste

Use smaller plates. It can be easy for everyone to pile their plates high with food, but even at holiday parties, your eyes can be bigger than your stomach. While it may be tempting to get the biggest plates available, less food will be thrown away when you use smaller plates as they control portion size. According to a recent study on food waste, researchers found that participants ate less food when using small plates, especially when serving themselves. By cutting the plate size in half, participants consumed about one-third less than they would normally. Bonus - the leftovers will be more intact, and coworkers can head home with the extras.