Norfolk residents are being encouraged to recycle their Christmas cards and support the Woodland Trust's annual Christmas card recycling scheme. Special collection bins will be in place until January 31 at participating WHSmith high street stores, Tesco stores (including selected Express), TK Maxx and all Marks & Spencer stores throughout the county. The initiative is supported by Norfolk County Council and Recycle Now, the national recycling campaign.
All the cards collected during the campaign are taken to paper mills where they are recycled into brand new paper products, with the money raised helping the Woodland Trust plant thousands of new trees throughout the UK. An impressive national collection target of 100 million cards has been set by the Woodland Trust and Recycle Now, which will enable 24,000 trees to be planted and save 2,600 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases - the same as taking over 800 cars off the road for a year
Ian Monson, Cabinet member for Environment and Waste, Norfolk County Council, said: "As Christmas cards are not accepted in the regular household recycling collection service, we are delighted to be able to offer people so many places to drop off cards throughout the county.
"Last year Norfolk residents recycled more than 50 tonnes of cards, helping the Woodland Trust to plant thousands of trees, and we hope the scheme will be even more successful this year."
Kate Murrell, Waste Reduction Manager at Norfolk County Council, added: "Modern Christmas cards are no longer just made of paper and all the added foil, glitters and glue makes the cards difficult to sort when mixed in with regular household recycling. It's great that there are so many collection points conveniently located at major stores that people visit regularly or pass close by."
Recycle Now have teamed up with Anna Ryder Richardson, fresh from her stint in the 'celebrity jungle' who is keen to encourage everyone to remember to recycle their Christmas cards. The target this year is set to beat last year's efforts by another 7 million Christmas cards recycled nationally.
Real Christmas trees and Christmas cards along with a wide range of household waste such as glass bottles and jars, batteries and catalogues, can be recycled at Norfolk County Council's 19 Recycling centres. For more information call 0844 800 8004 or visit
www.norfolk.gov.uk/recyclingcentres
