Some things are part of the quintessential Australian Christmas experience: driving around the streets to look at dazzling Christmas lights, gobbling up a kilo of prawns, and filling our loved one's stockings up to the brim with gifts.
But while it might be a favourite pastime to watch our loved ones unwrap their presents or to run around your local shopping centre in search of the perfect gift for your distant uncle, a new report says that Australia has a serious problem with Christmas gift-giving — and how many of these end up in landfill.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of Australians will get a Christmas present this year they'll never use or wear, according to new polling from The Australia Institute released on Friday.
It's not just a huge dent to the hip pocket, but it's also bad for the environment.
The estimated value of these unwanted gifts is $1 billion, with much of it sadly destined for landfill.
Almost one in two Australians (47 per cent) don't think about how the gifts they buy might eventually be disposed of.
It's part of a broader conversation about waste around the festive season, with 76 million tonnes of waste produced in Australia every year.
During the festive season, this amount can increase by 30 per cent, according to CSIRO.
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Calls for a sustainable Christmas as excess presents and food go down the chimney
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What do Australians actually think of gifts?
It seems many of us have too often had to relegate our gifts to the back of the cupboard to collect dust.
It might be leading to a big rejection of Australia's gift-giving culture, with a whopping half of us (52 per cent) preferring if people did not buy them any gifts at all for Christmas.
But while we might be able to do without gifts ourselves, we're still itching to play into the giving season as over three in four of us (77 per cent) still enjoy buying gifts for people at Christmas.
That said, we can still recognise that there's a problem with wasteful gift-giving. Nearly two in three Australians (64 per cent) agree it's better for the economy when people buy fewer things that don't get used.
Our gift-wrapping habits should be reevaluated too, with more of us (69 per cent) buying single-use wrapping paper than gift bags (52 per cent), which can be reused.
Australians use the equivalent of 150,000km of wrapping paper during the festive season, according to the CSIRO.
How to reduce waste this Christmas
- Instead of buying gifts for every family member, consider opting into a Secret Santa arrangement where you only buy a gift for one person
- Consider ditching physical gifts and treat your loved ones to experiences or gift vouchers so they can choose their own present
- Gift secondhand
- Be vocal about what you need, and ask people directly what gifts they want
- If you've been gifted something you don't want, consider donating it to your local op shop or charity
- List any unwanted presents on eBay, Depop, or
- Recycle wrapping paper where possible, or do one better and opt for reusable gift bags
- Only cook the food you need and get creative with leftovers
