WASTE chiefs are urging residents to recycle their Christmas cards in a bid to reduce the amounts of festive waste going to landfill sites and create new woodland. Research suggests that about 1 billion Christmas cards have been sent this Christmas in the

WASTE chiefs are urging residents to recycle their Christmas cards in a bid to reduce the amounts of festive waste going to landfill sites and create new woodland.

Research suggests that about 1 billion Christmas cards have been sent this Christmas in the UK - about 17 cards per person - and they are part of the extra three million tonnes of waste generated nationally over the festive period.

That equates to 27,600 tonnes in Cambridgeshire, the equivalent to the weight of more than five million turkeys.

For the third year in a row, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership has teamed up with the Woodland Trust to keep Christmas cards out of landfill sites and raise funds for the conservation and creation of woodlands in the UK.

Collections in January 2006 smashed all previous records with a staggering 82million Christmas cards, a 41 per cent increase on previous year's collection and enough cards to stretch from London to Iceland and back three times over.

Cambridgeshire County Council has been acknowledged top Shire county for recycling in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Currently over half of Cambridgeshire residents' waste is recycled.

There will be collection points for Christmas cards at all Tesco and WH Smith stores throughout Cambridgeshire in January. The cards will then be taken to paper mills where they are recycled into brand new paper products. Money raised through the scheme helps the Woodland Trust to save existing, and create new, woodland.