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£86m spent on unwanted Christmas gifts
Shekhar Bhatia16.11.09
Londoners will be given £86million of unwanted gifts this Christmas, it was claimed today.
The waste from thrown-away presents is said to swell each Briton's annual carbon footprint by about 80kg. The average person's footprint caused by consumer purchases is 1,500kg.
Each year Britons spend on average £435 on Christmas presents, but now researchers have calculated £36 of that will not be appreciated. Last year, eBay saw two million unwanted Christmas gifts listed.
During the festive period British households generate an estimated one billion Christmas cards, eight million Christmas trees and enough wrapping paper to stretch to the moon, according to research carried out by Western Union money transfer service.
