Recycle your Christmas Cards and help the Woodland Trust plant 12,000 trees

Did you know that last year, 59 million Christmas cards were recycled in the United Kingdom?

It sounds a massive amount, however when you take into account that well over a billion cards get sent each Christmas in the UK alone, it becomes less impressive.

Woodland Trust run this annual scheme to raise money for the Trust to enable them to plant trees throughout the UK. The target is to plan 12,000 trees this year

From January 2nd you can take your Christmas cards to high street WH Smith stores, TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer stores throughout the UK. Recycling bins will be present in these stores from January 2nd through to 31st January 2010.

Once you have recycled your cards you can then vote for which area you would like more trees planted in - go to this site and choose the area you want.

You can also download an advertising poster, encouraging local people, schools and businesses to participate in the scheme.

The money raised through the scheme is ploughed directly into our tree planting work. In the 12 years that the Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme has been running, more than 600 million cards have been recycled.

This has enabled the Woodland Trust to plant more than 141,000 trees, save over 12,000 tonnes of paper from landfill and stop over 16,000 tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere – the equivalent to taking more than 5,000 cars off the road for a year.

By recycling your Christmas cards through this scheme it stops waste being sent to landfill which can create methane – a powerful greenhouse gas.

If we all recycle just one card this Christmas this would save 1,570 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases – the same as taking 500 cars off the road for a year.

The UK needs many more trees. Trees are the lungs of the planet by turning CO2 into oxygen, yet the UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe with just 12% woodland cover compared to the European average of 44%. Here in Scotland this becomes even more important when you consider the SNP were trying to sell off 25% of Scotland's forests!

Just 4% of this is wildlife rich broadleaf woodland which the Woodland Trust aims to double.

Recycling Christmas Cards - yes it matters!

Did you know that last year, only 7% of all Christmas cards were recycled in the United Kingdom?

Shameful really. Although I do wonder if that takes into account all those that would have gone into recyling boxes and bins operated by local authorities around the UK?

Anyway, this year it is key that we all do our bit.

Did you know that if each person in the UK recycles just ONE Christmas card, the Woodland Trust would be able to plant 15,000 trees - that is just amazing. Well the Reeves household will be recycling just over 60 cards (counting the two that only arrived yesterday) this year.

This year once all the cards have been recycled the Woodland Trust will be planting trees in five sites around the UK , here in Scotland it will be at a site called Milton, next to the Trust's Glen Finglas Estate.

It is estimated that over one billion Christmas cards will have been sent in 2008, so lets help the Woodland Trust get those trees and take your cards to WHSmith, Tesco, TK Maxx or Marks & Spencer to be recycled.