As she put the first card in a recycling box, Miss Wilde urged the public to take their old cards to Tesco or WHSmith, which are providing collection bins in their stores until February 2, 2003.
 Kim Wilde launches the card recycling scheme |
She said: “I am very pleased to be involved in this fantastic campaign. It's very easy for all of us to do our bit and by supporting the Christmas card recycling scheme, you will be reducing waste and helping the Woodland Trust to restore and create much needed woodland throughout the UK.”
The Woodland Trust is hoping that collections this year will top the 671 tonnes collected by the scheme in 2002.
Simon Hopkinson of the Woodland Trust said: “Cleanaway are able to provide funding for us to promote awareness and create new woodland, which can provide community benefit. So the scheme has a double environmental whammy that reduces the amount of trees being cut down in the first instance but also sees more trees being planted.”
Local authorities can calculate the amount of card recycled through the scheme and convert this to recycling credits for material diverted from mixed refuse.
For the past three years, Cleanaway has provided funds for the scheme through its Landfill Tax Credits arm. This year, the donation will be up to 150,000.
Cards collected from WHSmith will go to SCA Recycling and those collected from Tesco will go to Severnside Recycling. Nottinghamshire County Council administers local authority support for the project on behalf of the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers. The paper collections fall into those already used by the retailers, so do not involve extra transport.
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