Santa's secret: upcycling

Ok chaps, here it is: Christmas is coming. You can either buy your Secret Santa less-than-a-tenner crap at Tesco, or you can take the opportunity to support upcycling. The choice is yours.

If you're thinking of joining the latter camp, then take that mouse of yours and pop on over to the Eden Project shop. Shown above you'll find something I quite like - the Acarage coin purse made from recycled ring pulls. It's a handy home for loose change and ladies and gentlemen, it costs £10.

While you're there you might want to put together your own wish list. I have, and this is on it: a retro wall clock made from recycled coffee cups. The entire ashortwalk recycled range is designed, sourced and manufactured in the UK and made from recycled vending machine coffee cups. The innovative material looks and feels like natural slate, and the clock is £24.95.

And I've got one last bit of holiday cheer up my sleeve - they're also selling Christmas crackers for the cause. Each one is made in Dorset from newspaper and contains a packet of Seeds, a recycled paper hat, an environmental message about the planet and of course a bang, all for £12.95. So there you go - ho ho ho.