dons the silly paper hat. These decorative Christmas
day staples grace millions of dinner tables across
the UK on Christmas day. They were conceived in
the mid-1800s when a London confectioner had the
idea to start adding a motto to his sugared almond
bon-bons, which he sold wrapped in a twisted paper
package.
For any of our Spanish readers who may not know
what a Christmas Cracker is, it is a colourfully wra-
pped cardboard tube, containing a small plastic toy,
a paper hat and a slip of paper with a silly joke. A
person grasps each end of the cracker and pulls until
the tube breaks with a loud crack, the person holding
the biggest broken half gets to keep the contents.
As fun and traditional as crackers are, it is estimated
that a staggering 154 million crackers were pulled in
the UK during Christmas 2017. But with their small
plastic toys and trinkets usually making their way
straight into the bin, environmental campaigners
have been calling for them to be banned or their con-
tents modified for years.
This year, however, two of the UK’s largest retailers
have announced that they will stop putting plastic
toys inside their crackers.
By Christmas 2020, Waitrose and John Lewis will
only sell crackers filled with toys and other items
made from recyclable materials such as metal and
paper.
John Lewis is currently also selling “fill your own”
Christmas crackers, which are proving very popular
with customers and account for 1 in 3 packets sold.
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Campaigners have praised this is a step in the right
direction towards reducing the amount of single-use
plastic used during the festive season. But have
also called for glitter and other plastic wrappers to
be removed from the millions of products sold over
Christmas.
Standard glitter is considered a real environmen-
tal plight. This popular and widely used decorative
product is made from etched aluminium bonded to
polyethylene terephthalate - a form of microplastic
that can find its way into oceans and harm animals.
Waitrose and John Lewis have already reduced
the amount of glitter on their own-brand Christmas
product by two-thirds, and have pledged to ban alto-
gether by either removing it from products or using
environmentally friendly alternatives by 2020.
Other retailers have also made moves to remove
plastic from some of their Christmas lines, with
Tesco and Marks & Spencer’s already switching to
biodegradable glitter this year.
With the enormous amounts of plastic toys, packa-
ging and decorations purchased throughout Christ-
mas, these first steps will hopefully lead the way for
all major supermarkets and retailers to make a swift
transition from unnecessary single-use plastics.
Waitrose & John Lewis eliminan el plástico
de los Christmas Crackers.
Sentarse alrededor de la mesa y tirar de envolto-
rios que sorprenden cuando rompen con pequeños
regalos navideños ha sido durante décadas, una tra-
dición británica del día de Navidad. Todos reímos o
protestamos ante la detestable broma que esconde
en su interior y todos, incluido el abuelo, se ponen el
tonto sombrero de papel.
Estos elementos decorativos adornan millones
de mesas en todo el Reino Unido, el día de Navi-
dad. Fueron ideados a mediados de 1800, cuando
a un pastelero londinense se le ocurrió añadir una
leyenda a sus bombones de almendra azucarados,
vendiéndolos envueltos en un paquete de papel re-
torcido.
Para cualquiera de nuestros lectores españoles
que no sepan qué es un Christmas Cracker, es un
tubo de cartón envuelto de colores, que contiene un
pequeño juguete de plástico, un sombrero de papel
y un trozo de papel con una patosa broma. Cada per-
OTWO 05 / DECEMBER 2019
sona agarra un extremo del envoltorio coloreado y
tira con hasta que el tubo cede con un fuerte crujido,
y el que sostiene la mitad mayor, se queda con el
bromista contenido.
Tan divertida y tradicionales son estos Christmas
Crackers, que asombrosamente se estima que en
2017 fueron aproximadamente 154 millones consu-
midas en el Reino Unido durante esa Navidad. Pero,
debido a sus contenidos donde la estrella son los
pequeños juguetes y baratijas de plástico que de
forma habitual van directas al contenedor, los acti-
vistas ambientales llevan años pidiendo que dicho
contenido se modifique o se prohíba.
No obstante, este año, dos de los mayores mino-
ristas del Reino Unido han anunciado que dejarán de
poner juguetes de plástico dentro de sus Crackers.
Para la Navidad de 2020, Waitrose & John Lewis
solo venderán galletas que contengan juguetes y
artículos de broma realizados con materiales recicla-
bles como papel y metal.
Actualmente, John Lewis está comercializando
unos Christmas Crackers bajo el lema “rellénelas
usted mismo” que, en una proporción de un tercio de
las ventas, se están posicionando e incrementando
su consumo entre los clientes.
Los activistas han alabado esta correcta dirección
comercial como un importante paso para reducir la
cantidad de plástico desechable durante las fiestas
navideñas. Aunque también han pedido que se eli-
minen las brillantinas y el resto de envoltorios plás-
ticos de millones de productos vendidos durante la
Navidad.
La purpurina, se considera una verdadera con-
taminación ambiental. Esta popular decoración se
fabrica de aluminio grabado unido al tereftalato de
polietileno, una fórmula de micro plástico que puede
llegar a los océanos y dañar a los animales.
Waitrose & John Lewis ha reducido en dos tercios
la cantidad de brillantina en su marca propia de pro-
ductos navideños, y se ha comprometido a eliminarlo
por completo, erradicándolo de sus artículos o alter-
nativas ecológicas para 2020.
Esta misma senda está siendo imitada por otros
minoristas al eliminar el plástico de algunas de sus
líneas navideñas como es el caso de Tesco y Marks
& Spencer, que ya están cambiando a purpurina bio-
degradable para este año.
OTWO 05 / DECEMBER 2019
Con la enorme cantidad de juguetes, paquete-
ría y decoraciones de plástico comercializados en
durante la Navidad, se espera que estos primeros
pasos abran el camino para que todos los grandes
supermercados y minoristas cambien rápidamente
los innecesarios plásticos desechables de sus pro-
ductos y lineales.
AWCP OPEN DAY
The Alameda Wildlife Conservation Park kicked off
its new Habits for Habitats campaign, with a fun-fi-
lled day of family activities at the Gibraltar Botanic
Gardens in early November, as part of the AWCP
Open Day.
Joined by other local NGO’s such as the Nautilus
Project and the Environmental Safety Group, va-
rious creative and interactive activities allowed
both kids and adults to get involved and learn more
about species and habitat protection, as well as
how to live more sustainably.
Some of the many fantastic activities held were;
a behind the scenes tours of the Botanic Gardens
and their labs, animal feeding at the Wildlife Park,
a creepy Halloween cave, capoeira sessions and
Village Fete style games. There were also tree
climbing demonstrations where kids could join in.
A sustainable food market was also serving up
delicious falafel and hummus, plant-based burgers
and cakes.
Visitors were also able to learn more about the Ala-
meda Biodome Project announced earlier this year.
Once completed, the biodome will allow people to
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