Here’s today’s daily consumer news for Oct. 8.

Airfare app Hopper has some Christmas travel advice

There are still 11 weeks until Christmas, but some people are already planning their holiday getaways. Whether you want to welcome Santa with family and friends amid the snow or on a beach somewhere tropical – there’s a few tips you should keep in mind while booking.

The best prices for holiday airfare are right now and they tend to rise in mid-to-late October. But if you don’t book right now, they’ll likely dip again in November for a couple of weeks.

Second, the cheapest travel day is Christmas Day with discounts over 20 per cent. But if that’s not an option, December 23rd and Christmas Eve are cheaper too. If you’re going to book last minute, you should be prepared to be flexible on times and dates in order to get deals.

If you want to escape family this holiday season and trade it for a margarita on the beach, 2019 has lower prices for international getaways, such as Mexico. Popular destinations like Mexico City are 40 per cent lower compared to the same time period last year.

And Toronto leads the way for “most watched” Christmas destination, while Cancun is the “most watched” for international destinations.

“Getting drastic with plastic”

It owns everything from Ben & Jerry’s to Dove, and for consumer goods giant Unilever, the next target is plastic waste.

The company plans to use half the amount of new plastic by 2025. In 2018, they used 700,000 tonnes of plastic. Instead, Unilever will focus on reusable, refillable packaging and “naked” (unwrapped) products. They also plan to use at least 25 per cent recycled plastic in packaging.

“There’s a lot of plastic pollution in the environment, and the uncomfortable truth is that some of has got our name on it, and that is not okay with us,” said Unilever CEO Alan Jope.

About 2.5 billion people in more than 190 countries use Unilever products every day. 

No more stepping on Legos

Are you tired of accidentally stepping on Legos? The Danish company is now trying to send them into the hands of other kids.

Customers in the U.S. will be able to print out a mailing label and dump their used Lego bricks in a box and ship them off for free. The pieces will be cleaned, put in a box and given to Teach For America, a non-profit organization that will donate them to classrooms across the United States. Some bricks will be also sent to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston for their after-school programs.

If the test is successful, the company may expand the program beyond the U.S. next year.