A Christmas jumper is for life

Christmas jumpers have joined mince pies, ice skating and Noddy Holder in becoming an integral part of the festive season.

Sadly, they are also adding to the shocking environmental damage Christmas does too.

In the UK we spend about £220 million on Christmas jumpers but according to the environmental charity Hubbub a quarter of them end up in the bin or will never be worn again.

A survey they conducted of 3,000 UK shoppers found more than a third of people admitted to only wearing their jumper once during the festive period, so many of those being thrown away are as good as new. That's snow joke when you consider the fact that in the UK we are putting 300,000 tonnes of clothing in the bin every year.

You can help tackle this environmental crisis by doing one of the following:

A quarter of people in the Hubbub survey said they did not want to be seen wearing the same Christmas jumper from last year but the chances are no-one will remember what you wore last Christmas anyway. Dig it out and give it another wear.

Perhaps you were thinking of joining in with the Christmas jumper craze this year for the first time. Well before you hit the shops, consider hunting out an old jumper and turning it into your very own festive creation.

• How to make a snowman Christmas jumper
• How to make a reindeer Christmas jumper
• How to make a patchwork shape Christmas jumper

You don't have to buy new to get a new look. Ask friends and family if they fancy exchanging jumpers or put an appeal out on social media. Please follow any relevant coronavirus restrictions and guidance to keep you and others safe.

Clothing and textiles cannot go in your green bin.

Please take any good quality used clothing to a charity shop. Despite coronavirus restrictions many are still accepting donations. Please call ahead before you visit to check what they are accepting and on what day.

Read our list of charity shops accepting donations during the coronavirus pandemic.

You can also pass good quality used clothing on to friends or family or sell/give them away. Again, please follow any local coronavirus restrictions and guidance when doing this.

As well as Facebook and ebay, here are some other websites you can use:

• Depop
• reGAIN
• Vinted

You can also recycle clothing in a textile recycling bank. Find your nearest textile recycling bank.

All of Worcestershire's Household Recycling Centres have textile recycling banks that will recycle good quality clothing. But even if it isn't in good condition, merchants will turn unwearable items into wipe (industrial rags) so long as it is clean and dry.