A woman from Stevenage is spearheading a campaign which means if everyone in Hertfordshire recycles just one Christmas card, more than 1,100 trees will be planted across the county.

Lisette Stribling, 35, is the face of the Woodland Trust campaign and is encouraging people to recycle their Christmas cards at Marks and Spencer after the festive period.

She has visited a young woodland close to her home, planted as a result of recycling her cards at M&S last Christmas.

“It was such a wonderful opportunity to see the end product,” she said.

“Even though some of the trees are still very small there is a promise of things to come and a general optimism that the green pleasant land that we know and love will keep growing and flourishing with schemes such as this.”

Card collection bins will be in M&S stores next year from January 2 to 31 and M&S will fund the planting of one tree for every 1,000 cards recycled.

“It’s win, win,” said Jo Mathieson of the Woodland Trust.

“By recycling cards you are playing a key part in turning unwanted waste into much needed trees.

“With 10.6% tree cover, Hertfordshire fares slightly better than the rest of England – which has a national average of 10% – but is still woefully short of trees when compared to the EU average of 37%.”

Mike Barry, director of Plan A at M&S, said: “This is a fantastic campaign which provides a really easy way for everyone to get involved in planting new woodland and preserving our important natural habitats by doing something as simple as dropping your old Christmas cards off at a M&S store.”

To find out more visit www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/christmascards