Although the Waste & Resources Action Programme no longer directly supports or promote such schemes because cards are widely collected through household kerbside recycling collections, the retailers said they felt there is still a need for the service which will help divert material from landfill and see donations made to charitable causes. 
Under their schemes, Marks & Spencer and Sainsburys will be distributing Christmas card bins to their stores throughout the UK. The cards will then be collected and recycled. A proportion of the money raised through the schemes will go to the Woodland Trust and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) respectively.
M&S first launched its own card recycling scheme in 2008 in partnership with the Woodland Trust as a result of customer demand. This year, the retailer will be rolling out specially-marked Christmas card recycling bins in over 300 stores from January 1 to 31 2013 with the goal of planting a tree for every 1,000 cards collected. Last year, Marks & Spencer set a goal of collecting 10 million cards from its network of stores although it fell short by 20%. Despite this, the retailer said it was pleased with its efforts with 8,000 trees planted as a result.
A spokesperson for M&S said the decline in the amount of cards collected through the scheme was not an issue. The good news is that card recycling is now common place as part of kerbside collections. This has naturally led to fewer being brought into store but thats not an issue for us, our aim is to support recycling, whether thats at kerbside or through our stores. Were very proud that we were able to collect over eight million cards last year and help plant over 8,000 trees.
Smurfit Kappa
Once collected at M&S stores, the cards are backhauled to its distribution centres along with other recyclables, where they are then sorted and sent for recycling by Smurfit Kappa. The Woodland Trust said M&S support in the scheme was vital.
Joanne Mathieson, from the Woodland Trust, said: We are delighted that M&S is continuing to run its highly successful Christmas card recycling scheme this year. If we each took just seven cards to be recycled in January, then the Woodland Trust will be able to plant an extra 10,000 trees in 2013. By recycling festive cards, M&S customers are not only helping the Woodland Trust to continue its vital work in creating new woodland, they are also helping to preserve the habitat of thousands of UK species.
The Woodland Trust previously ran its own scheme however it came to an end in January 2011 after 14 years due to a lack of funding and participants (see letsrecycle.com story). A decline in the number of Christmas cards captured through the scheme, owing to the increase in kerbside collections, was also a contributing factor. The scheme was supported by Defra and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Sainsburys
Supermarket giant Sainsburys will be rolling Christmas card recycling bins to 500 stores from December 26 2012 to January 15 2013 and will be making a donation to the Forest Stewardship Council UK (FSC UK).
A Sainsburys spokeswoman said: This is a really simple way of helping customers to put their Christmas cards to a positive use after the festive season. The cards will be recycled, so less paper will end up in landfill, and Sainsburys will make a donation to the Forest Stewardship Council based on the volume of cards collected.
Nearly 50 tonnes of Christmas cards were recycled by the scheme last year which saw Sainsburys donate 6,930 to the FSC. Sainsburys said the cards are recycled by various suppliers throughout the country.
Commenting on the importance of the scheme, a spokeswoman for FSC told letsrecycle.com: We use the money for our awareness and education works and it is invaluable to us as FSC UK is a small charity. Obviously we are looking to raise our own money but the donation is invaluable.
A number of local authorities are also getting on board and will be encouraging residents to make sure they recycle their Christmas cards and other festive items through their kerbside collection scheme.
WRAP, through its Recycle Now programme, is also encouraging people to recycle their Christmas cards through their kerbside collection service or at a paper bank. Alternatively, it is also promoting the reuse of Christmas cards by offering a range of creative solutions including turning them into gift tags for next Christmas.
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