It’s something that those of us who dutifully reuse, reduce and recycle, fret over every time December comes around.

However, Mukti Mitchell, founder of Mitchell & Dickinson says: ‘Everyone worries about sending Christmas cards these days because they think that it’s not very environmentally friendly, but actually, we need to be thinking much bigger than that.

‘The carbon used to send a Christmas card is around 140g, so if you send 40 cards, it’s using around 5.6kg. But that’s only equivalent in carbon terms to driving 15 miles in your car. When you consider the goodwill and joy you spread by sending Christmas wishes, this is insignificant compared to the much greater carbon reductions you can make all year round.

‘My advice would be to send love and cheer and make the savings where they really count such as taking less flights, using shared transport more or insulating your home.

‘Insulating a property saves around 2500kg of carbon per property per year. That means you’ll save nearly 500 times more carbon every year by insulating your home than you will produce by¬ sending 40 Christmas cards!

‘Your house loses heat in five main areas: walls, loft, draughts, floor and windows but if you insulate them, using systems such as CosyGlazing and sheep’s wool loft insulation you can reduce heat loss by up to 40% in a detached property and 50% in a mid-terrace property. That’s a huge carbon saving – and a big fuel bill reduction too.’