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Woodland Trust and Marks & Spencer urge the UK to turn their cards into trees this Christmas
Celebrities Dermot O’Leary, Jo Brand, Julia Bradbury, Hugh Dennis and Cerys Matthews are calling on the public to recycle their cards this Christmas to help plant thousands of trees across the UK.
For every 1,000 cards dropped in to M&S stores for recycling throughout January 2017, a new tree will be planted by the Woodland Trust in the UK. In just under two decades more than half a billion cards have been collected and 245,500 trees planted – if you lined them up they would run further than Land’s End to John O Groats.
It’s the first year Cerys has backed the recycling scheme and she said: “People ask me if I’m a dog or cat person - I say, plants all the way! Just look at the trees, and what they do for us, the oxygen we breathe, the insect, bird and animal life they sustain, they’re extraordinary! And you can help the Woodland Trust plant even more JUST by donating unwanted Christmas cards...
“Spread the word on Facebook , twitter and Instagram and donate those old Christmas cards: together we’ll grow more oaks, more chestnuts, more elms…”
The Woodland Trust began the Christmas Card Recycling Scheme back in 1998 and ran it until 2011, aided by a range of retail and governmental funding partners. M&S came on board in 2008 and began running it themselves in 2012 with the Woodland Trust still the benefactor.
Over the years the public have taken the scheme to their hearts – with hundreds of thousands of people, including schools, community groups and businesses clubbing together collecting cart loads of cards.
Joanne Mathieson, fundraiser at the Woodland Trust, said: “Christmas is a time of year where we think about giving to others and this is great way that your Christmas gesture can keep on giving. Hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted thanks to the generous support of the public – creating beautiful habitats for people and wildlife to enjoy. We want this year to be a real cracker and are calling on the public to collect up their cards after Christmas, take them to their local M&S and help us plant even more trees.”
Mike Barry, M&S’s Plan A Director said, Mike Barry, M&S’s Plan A Director said: “This year at M&S we’ve been working hard to encourage our customers to get involved and Spark Something Good – from fundraising, to volunteering, to recycling. Through our partnership with the Woodland Trust the small action of dropping your cards into store after Christmas can help make a big difference in planting trees across the UK”.
Michael Main, of Chester, Cheshire has collected, and encouraged others to collect, cards for the scheme since day one – collecting more than 50,000 in total. Last year his efforts were recognised by former Prime Minister David Cameron who awarded him with a “Points of Light Award” - awards given to people who do something special within their community.
Michael said: “I’ve always been very passionate about giving back to the community and the work I do with the Woodland Trust is something I hold dear to my heart. I will have my billboard out again this year and would love to help the Woodland Trust to plant more trees than ever.”
Special card collection bins will be in M&S stores* from January 2 to January 31st 2017.
The Woodland Trust is also one of nine charities M&S support through their Sparks scheme with a penny from every M&S transaction going to customers’ chosen charity, thousands of customers have signed up to support the Woodland Trust.