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What to do with old Christmas Cards

Okay, so what to do with old Christmas cards?

And no, burning them, or making elaborate paper planes to fly over into the next door's garden is not the answer.

Did you know (in a Michael Caine voice) that each day, posties deliver over 150 million of letters, cards and packets in the run-up to Christmas; no, not a lot of people know that. And if you're interested, that's twice the amount of a usual day. Furthermore, that once the yuletide spirit has slipped and everyone has to face the new year, over one billion Christmas cards are thrown out into the dustbins. One billion - that's over 17 each for every man, woman and child in the country.

Now, apart from advocating that everyone gives up sending cards every year, there is a very sensible way of coping with this deluge of personal bunting, and that's by using an idea organised by the Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme.

Over the last few years, the Trust has asked people to take their old cards to one of a number of large retailers, including ASDA, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, TK Max and W H Smith.

Take your cards to the local branch of one of the above, pop them into the bins provided and they will send them to the Trust to be recycled.

It has proved a very popular scheme and it's estimated that over one million cards will be handed in after the festivities; that's roughly 1,500 tonnes in weight. And just in case you can't imagine how much 1,500 tonnes weighs, it's the same as eight jumbo jets.

And then what happens? Well, the cards are pulped and recycled into new paper products, generating enough money to plant over 20,000 trees, which equates to the size of nearly 50 football pitches of woodland. And the amount of carbon dioxide saved is over 2,400 tonnes, which is the same effect as cutting over 100 flights around the world.

For further information, go to www.woodland-trust.org.uk/recycling.

Just wait until after Christmas though - tipping cards from the distant family relatives before 12th night might just seem a bit humbug-ish!

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