The Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year is one of the most important celebrations, if not the most, for many East Asian countries. Growing up as a Singaporean Chinese, it’s probably the one holiday I looked forward to the most every year. Malls and homes would be extensively decorated, the holidays packed with family gatherings, extravagant food and treats, red packets (money gifts in red envelops) to receive, new fancy clothes and the lot, it’s kind of like Christmas really. But also just like Christmas, CNY celebrations always come with a lot of waste and I’m feeling more conscious about it now than ever. Over the years, I’ve made some simple and accessible changes to celebrate CNY more sustainably and thought I’d share that with you.

Make My Own Clothes

For some years now, I’ve abstained from buying new clothes for CNY, but this year I decided I would make myself a few new pieces just to get in the spirit of celebrating. I used fabric that I already had in my stash, dyed them by hand and drafted them to my size with details that I knew I would wear on a daily basis. I’m not only exceptionally proud of my sustainably handmade garments, it also made me feel good to know that I’m not feeding the vicious, cheap and exploitative mass-market fashion industry that relies so much on sales and impulse purchases.

For peeps who can sew, I encourage you to do this! There are many sites where you can purchase a pattern for a small fee or even download it for free. Not only will you feel great about having created something for yourself, it’ll be something you love and care more about, making you more likely to want to keep wearing it for a longer time compared to an impulse purchase at a sale that hugs you in all the wrong places.

If you don’t sew, how about refreshing some existing pieces with some natural dyes? Both Rebecca and Alicia have lovely tutorials and ebooks for simple natural dyeing projects which you can adapt for that cotton shirt or dress you have at the back of your closet. Or if you’re feeling botanical prints, Louise from Gumnut Magic have some great resources for eco-printing!

If you really want to purchase something, try doing so at second hand stores or try supporting small businesses who make their garments sustainably.

If you can draft and sew, making your own clothes feel exceptionally satisfying, if not, perhaps refresh some of your existing pieces with a natural dye treatment?

Reuse Red Packets

Traditionally during CNY, senior members of the family hand out monetary gifts to junior members (e.g. from parents to their children) as a token of good luck for the new year. This money is packaged in little red envelops we call red packets. Essentially, they’re wrapping paper for money! Over the years, they’ve become more and more fancy, with gold foil accents and special designs for the zodiac of the year. And like wrapping paper, they get thrown out after the present has been opened.

Now that I’m on the end that hands out the red packets instead of receiving them, I’ve started to reuse what I can from the year before. So I look out for the ones with more generic designs, without the year or zodiac printed so it can be reused. More importantly, I also try to look out for the ones without any metallic or glossy accents as these shiny elements are made from plastic and render the paper unrecyclable. I’m considering making my own next year!

Choose Less Single Use

Unfortunately, many of the CNY goodies, especially in Singapore, still come pre-packaged in single use plastic. As much as possible, I’ve tried to make the more sustainable option, like choosing the box of mandarin oranges with the tissue stuffing instead of the ones with oranges individually wrapped in plastic bags. And instead of adding to the single use packaging, this year, I’m opting for furoshiki wrapping to tote them around. You can use a scarf you already have, or a bandana, a tea towel or napkin, a baby blanket, there’ll be something in your house that would work. It looks pretty, can be tied differently and adapted to packages of various sizes and is both a means of protection and transport and most importantly, you can use them again and again.

Travel Greener

Living in Sydney while my family is in Singapore means hopping on an 8-hour international flight to celebrate with my family. Air travel is not the most sustainable mode of transport, but there aren’t many other travel options between Australia to Singapore. I flew with British Airways this trip, and they have a carbon offset programme which I’m using to offset my carbon emissions for this trip. I also planned my trip to include some work meetings and markets to try to reduce my need to fly. Choosing economy class instead of business, packing a lighter bag and flying non-stop flights are also little steps you can take to reduce the impact of your air travel. While on land, I’m opting for public transport as much as I can, like taking trains to and from airports, taking buses or carpooling to travel between homes I’m visiting.

While my CNY is far from the perfectly sustainable celebrations, I hope me sharing what I’ve done will encourage you to look at how you celebrate and take some small steps towards enjoying the festivities more consciously. All things, no matter how small, add up, so if each one of us does a little, we can all work towards a better future with more celebrations to come!