Wrap your head around sustainable packaging this Christmas

Hand-printed recyclable wrapping paper decorated with twigs is as pretty as it is sustainable. Photo: Mascha Brichta/dpa

There's no Christmas without presents, and there are no presents without wrapping. The mountain of waste paper and packaging that rises up in many living rooms after the presents have been given plays on many a guilty conscience.

But what's the alternative? However well intentioned, most would agree that old newspapers and advertising leaflets just don't make the most attractive wrapping paper.