Challenge 2: Dec 2008 – Jan 2009
What you need to do: Collect Christmas Cards for Change
For this challenge you need to collect as many Christmas cards as possible from your local community and take them to the local Woodland Trust collection point.
Why you need to do it:
- To reduce the amount of paper that goes to landfill.
- To raise money for the woodland trust to plant trees throughout the UK.
- By recycling paper less trees are cut down.
- To save the energy being used to convert timber into paper.
- To raise the profile of recycling in the UK.
- It is estimated that 1 billion Christmas cards (17 for every woman, man and child) could end up in bins across the UK (Defra) this Christmas
- One fifth of the contents of household dustbins consists of paper and card
- The UK produces more than 434 million tonnes of waste every year. This quantity of rubbish would fill the Albert Hall in London in less than 2 hours
- On average, each person in the UK produces 500 kilos of household waste per year. This weighs the same as three and a half million double-decker buses, a queue of which would stretch from London to Sydney (Australia) and back.
- If 100million cards are recycled it will enable 24,000 trees to be planted providing homes for lots of badgers, foxes, squirrels etc.
How to do it:
Collect as many cards as you can.
- Spread the word among your friends and family and collect Christmas cards to take into Woodland Trust collection points (this year they were in Marks & Spencers, Tesco TK Maxx and WH Smith).
- See who in your pack can collect the most Christmas cards.
- Can you persuade your school to get involved too and have a collection in reception (don’t forget these will need to be taken to the Woodland Trust collection point.)
- Keep a tally of the number of cards you have collected and then let us know at the end of the challenge.
- Download the Tomorrow's Forest poster template here.
Review it
Tell the Woodland Trust what you have been up to with all the challenges.
Remember the Woodland Trust have a monthly competition on the website, email us poems, photos or stories.
Don't forget to complete the online evaluation (on the Girlguiding UK Changing the World website) so that you can get your badge.
