SCOTLAND: Scots urged to recycle Christmas cards

Environment Minister Ross Finnie today encouraged Scots to recycle their Christmas cards to reduce waste and rejuvenate Scotland's forests.

The Christmas Card Recycling Scheme 2004 aims to build on the success of last year's campaign when 4 million cards were recycled in Scotland. The scheme is run by the Woodlands Trust in conjunction with WH Smith and Tesco.

Mr Finnie said:

"Every year, Scots send about 100 million Christmas cards. The vast majority of these end up in landfill sites where they contribute to greenhouse gases and climate change - this is a waste.

"Recycling your old cards reduces demand on landfill and other natural resources. It also helps to preserve existing woodlands and create new ones. Old Christmas cards should not be seen as rubbish but as a valuable resource that can be turned into new paper based products.

"By simply taking your old cards down to the local recycling facilities provided by the Woodland Trust you can help protect the environment and ensure our trees and forests are not diminished unnecessarily.

"The Woodland Trust initiative is a perfect example of the philosophy of the Scottish Executive's 'Do a little, Change a lot' campaign, where just by taking the simple step of recycling Christmas cards, Scots could dramatically reduce waste in our landfill sites."

The Woodland Trust's 2004 Christmas Card Recycling Scheme will run from January 5th until February 1st 2004. It provides Christmas Card Recycling facilities in High Street WH Smith and Tescos stores across Scotland.

The Scottish Executive have introduced specific targets for the recycling or recovery of main packaging materials. From the January 1st 2004, new regulations will mean that companies which manufacture or use packaging materials will have to recover or recycle 70 per cent of material by 2008.