TV impressionist Alistair McGowan is appealing to people in Islington to support the country’s annual Christmas card recycling scheme, collecting cards through special recycling bins in Tesco and WHSmith stores. The national recycling campaign Recycle Now and the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity, asked the nation’s favourite impressionist to don a unique jacket made entirely from Christmas cards and be the first person to recycle his cards. “More than a billion cards will have been sent by people in the UK this Christmas,” said Recycle Now supporter, Alistair McGowan, “and we want people to recycle as many of these as possible to raise money to plant more trees and cut down on the amount of waste that traditionally gets binned at this time of year. The recycling bins will be ready to collect cards from 5th January 2005 until 1st February, to give everyone time to recycle their cards instead of throwing them away. “Last year millions of cards were recycled by the scheme which helped the Woodland Trust save more than 15,000 trees,” said Alistair. “This year’s national target is to recycle 50 million cards, but we can only do that with everyone’s help.” 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 to plant new trees. This year, the scheme is being run in association with the Trust’s Tree For All campaign, ensuring the planting of millions more trees for future generations to enjoy. Councillor Bridget Fox, executive member for sustainability said: “With the New Year firmly upon us - why not make a resolution to recycle more - starting with your festive rubbish. It is estimated that a hefty three million tonnes of household waste was generated in the UK over the festive period and in Islington we are determined to do our bit to recycle as much of this as possible. And it’s not just Christmas cards that you can recycle - leave your Christmas tree outside your house and it will be collected by the end of January. Your green box or local mini-recycling site takes paper, tins, cans and glass bottles and jars for recycling. And charity shops will gratefully receive any unwanted gifts, toys, books.” For further information visit www.woodland-trust.org.uk/recycling, www.recyclenow.com or www.islington.gov.uk ENDS
Page Last Updated: 29 July 2008