Woodland Trust Scotland Announces 2006 Christmas Card Recycling Scheme
Recycle Christmas cards to help save woods and trees
The Woodland Trust Scotland (1), part of the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity, announced its 2006 Christmas Card Recycling Scheme (2) today. The organisation is urging the people of Scotland to recycle their Christmas cards and help save woods and trees.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Woodland Trust Scotland, supported by the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) (3), has teamed up with retailers WHSmith and Tesco to deliver the Christmas Card Recycling Scheme. Recycling bins will be placed in Scottish WHSmith high street stores, and Scottish Tesco Extra and Superstores, from Monday 02 January to Tuesday 31 January 2006.
It is estimated that UK households throw away 2.5 billion Christmas and greetings cards in the days immediately after New Year, resulting in an extra 250,000 tonnes of rubbish. The 2006 Christmas Card Recycling Scheme aims to recycle over 60 million Christmas cards throughout the UK this year, with at least 6 million of those coming from Scotland. Last year’s Scheme recycled some 58 million cards throughout the UK – the equivalent of 1,150 tonnes, with 4.9 million cards coming from Scotland – almost one for every person in the country.
Andrew Fairbairn, Development Manager for the Woodland Trust Scotland said: “We are asking the Scottish public to recycle their Christmas cards. Christmas is a time when a huge amount of waste is generated. By simply recycling Christmas cards, everyone can help us address this problem as well as helping the environment. Recycling just one Christmas card saves enough electricity to allow five people to watch 15 minutes of Christmas television.”
Colin Kerr, Campaigns officer at SWAG, explained how shoppers can get involved: “The scheme has one very simple aim - to encourage people to recycle their old Christmas cards by taking them to the special recycling bins which can be found in selected WHSmith high street stores and Tesco stores across Scotland throughout January. I would urge everyone to hold on to their Christmas cards until the scheme launches in early January 2006 and help us beat this year’s target.”
“Hopefully, this year’s scheme will engage many more Scots who don’t traditionally recycle any of their waste, and make it part of their daily lives all year round. With more and more ways to access recycling facilities through local initiatives such as kerbside collections and home composting schemes, it has never been easier for Scots to recycle the waste produced on a daily basis.”
As well as helping by recycling their Christmas cards, members of the public can help by “spreading the word” about the Christmas Card Recycling Scheme. Posters can be obtained by calling 01476 581112 (ext 227) or downloaded from the Scheme’s website at http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/cards
Members of the public can also recycle mobile phones and inkjet cartridges with the Woodland Trust Scotland to help raise funds to save woods and trees. More information can be obtained by calling the Woodland Trust Scotland on 01764 662554.
Images Available:
www.woodland-trust.org.uk/pressimages/treeinsnow.jpg
www.woodland-trust.org.uk/pressimages/dmorris.jpg
Media Contacts:
Andrew Fairbairn, Woodland Trust Scotland: Tel: 01764 662554, Mobile: 07770 482939,
E-mail: andrewfairbairn@woodland-trust.org.uk
Stan Blackley, Portable PR: Tel : 08700 742449, Mobile : 07770 742449,
E-mail: stan@portablepr.com
Lisa Crawford, the BIG partnership: Tel: 0131 558 3111, Mobile: 07917 182547,
E-mail: lisa@bigpartnership.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
1. The Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 300,000 members and supporters. The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s understanding and enjoyment of woodland. Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). In 1984, the Trust acquired its first wood in Scotland. Today the Trust owns 80 sites across Scotland covering 8,100 hectares. Further news can be accessed via www.woodland-trust.org.uk
2. Christmas Card Recycling Scheme 2006
The Christmas Card Recycling Scheme 2006 is organised in partnership with WHSmith and Tesco and supported by the Waste Aware Scotland campaign. SCA Recycling (WHSmith) and Severnside Recycling (Tesco) collect and recycle the cards on behalf of the high street stores. The Scheme is also backed by Defra, Wake up to Waste, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly, Waste Awareness Wales and Waste Watch.
3. Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG)
The Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) was set up in 2000, with the remit of changing public attitudes to domestic waste. They have cross sector support with representatives from the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), Community Recycling Network Scotland (CRNS), Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB), Recycling Advisory Group for Scotland (RAGS), Scottish Executive, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on their steering group. The Group is chaired by John Summers, the Director of KSB, and is funded by the Scottish Executive and SEPA.
4. Waste Aware Scotland Campaign
The Waste Aware Scotland Campaign is a national campaign run by the Scottish Waste Awareness Group to raise awareness of, and change public attitudes and behaviour towards, ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’.
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From the press office of Portable PR
On behalf of the Woodland Trust Scotland
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