On the occasion of the upcoming Christmas holidays, a free workshop “Christmas decorations in the spirit of zero and less waste” will be held today, where participants will be able to learn a lot about climate change and how to combat its effects during the holiday season as well.

The workshop is being held as part of the event “Giving a second life to waste” and the LIFE-IP EcoMalopolska project “Implementation of the Regional Action Plan for Climate and Energy for the Małopolska Province.”

The workshop will be held at the headquarters of our Foundation, on the second floor of the NaCl gallery in Wieliczka between 11am and 1pm.

What is the purpose of today’s Christmas workshop?

The main attraction of today’s workshop will be the creation of eco-friendly Christmas tree ornaments, garlands, Christmas lanterns and table decorations. We want everyone, regardless of age, to find something for themselves, so we have prepared activities with different levels of difficulty. We will do our best to make sure that all the decorations created are aesthetically pleasing and easy to make. We want to inspire people to use these methods in the future, so they will understand that creating decorations on their own doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming.

We will use primarily biodegradable, natural materials. We will show how to give new life to objects that would probably be useless to more than one person already.

Our experts will conduct lectures for workshop participants so that they will take knowledge from the workshop in addition to handmade decorations.

What does today’s workshop have to do with the topic of zero and less waste?

Zero waste and less waste is an attempt to generate as little waste as possible. There are a lot of practices that can be put in place so that the amount of trash we generate is greatly reduced. There are also a lot of things we can do ourselves, such as the ones we will show in today’s workshop.

An interesting principle on the subject is the so-called 6Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot, Repair, which briefly summarizes what can be done to live in the spirit of zero waste.

• Refuse – say “no” to constantly buying new commercial bags, collecting flyers and other items that you don’t need and will quickly become more trash. Think about using a bag that will serve you much longer.
• Reduce – think twice before you buy something. Limit your car use, replace it with a bicycle, use public transportation or walk. Watch the expiration dates of the products you buy.
• Reuse – if you really don’t need something, think about giving it away to friends or selling it online. Similarly, it also works the other way – don’t be afraid to use second hand, buy a used item online or take it from friends who no longer need it.
• Recycle – segregate your waste. Try to do this even in the city, where, unfortunately, it is quite hampered by the limited number of garbage cans designated for this purpose.
• Rot – a lot of waste can be used in creating compost, which you can then use in your own garden. See how to create your own compost pile here.
• Repair – if something has deteriorated, but there is an option to repair it, think about it. Not everything can be repaired, but a good portion of the items we use can serve us for years if we take good care of them, including really taking care of them.

We would like to thank all the participants of today’s workshop. We hope you had a pleasant time and learned something new.