21 December 2007
Be Absolutely Fabulous Wales
Joanna Lumley encourages everyone to help recycle 100 million cards
Actress Joanna Lumley is encouraging Welsh people to recycle their Christmas cards to help fund the planting of 24,000 trees!
Special recycling bins will be in WH Smith, Tesco (1), TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer (2) stores throughout January (2nd-31st). The charity has set an ambitious collection target of 100 million cards which would enable the planting of 24,000 trees – that’s a forest the size of 48 football pitches!
During January 2007, 151 tonnes of cards were collected from in Wales, that’s a total or 7,650,000 cards! This helped the charity break its 90 million card UK target by 3 million. Campaign supporter Joanna Lumley is hoping for this kind of support from Wales again during the coming New Year.
The Absolutely Fabulous actress said: “Christmas is a great time for celebrations and being with our families, but we do end up creating more waste. A simple way to help reduce this and help climate change at the same time is to recycle as much as possible and Christmas cards are one of the easiest items to keep out of our bins.”
The collecting of cards generates income for the charity via recycling credits – income paid by local authorities for waste that does no have to be disposed of in landfill sites. So the more cards recycled the better!
Sue Holden, chief executive of the Woodland Trust, said: ”Thank you Wales. Your efforts not only prevent cards going to landfill which generates greenhouse gas, but you help us plant thousands of trees. The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe – just 12% of the UK is covered by woods compares to the European average of 44%. By recycling your cards, you can help us plant thousands more throughout the UK.”
For more information about the scheme or further recycling tips, visit
www.woodland-trust.org.uk/cards or www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk
For media enquiries contact:
Rory Francis (Publicity and Public Affairs Officer for Wales) on 01766 832563 or 07760 171174
Afallon, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41 3RH
Email roryfrancis@woodland-trust.org.uk
Or The Woodland Trust Press Office email media@woodland-trust.org.uk or Tel 01476 581121
Images
Digital pictures of Joanna Lumley can be downloaded here
Editor’s Notes
1. Including most Tesco Express stores.
2. Including selected M&S Simply Food Stores.
Coed Cadw (The Woodland Trust)
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 250,000 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 awareness 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). These include over 100 sites in Wales, with a total area of 1,580 hectares (3,900 acres). It offers free public access to nearly all of its sites. Further news can be accessed via www.coed-cadw.org.uk The Trust adopted its Welsh language name in 2000: “Coed Cadw”. This is an old Welsh term, used in medieval laws to describe protected or preserved woodland.
The Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme
The cards collected in stores are taken to WHSmith, Tesco, TK Maxx and M&S depots, where they are collected by their own recycling agents (Severnside for Tesco, SCA Recycling for WHSmith and TK Maxx, and GSS for M&S). The cards are then graded and taken to recycling plants where they are treated and eventually turned into new products such as tissue paper, photocopy paper or corrugated cardboard.
Recycling Credits
Money is raised through recycling credits. A recycling credit is the value of the saving made by the local authority in NOT having to landfill any household waste that is recycled. The local authority chooses to pay this saving in disposal costs back to any voluntary or community groups that are involved in collecting household waste for recycling (in the case of the CCRS – the Woodland Trust) because they wish to promote recycling in their area. The value of the credit varies across the different authorities due to differences in disposal costs, and is paid for each tonne of household waste that is recycled. The value of the credit increases each year with RPI (Retail Price Index) and with any increases in Landfill Tax.
