Nearly 12,000 plastic tree shelters were removed and recycled from the Yorkshire Dales countryside recently thanks to Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust’s (YDMT) Plastic Free Woodlands project.
Landowners dropped off their redundant shelters at Craven Auction Mart in Skipton over the course of three days. These were then collected by Tubex and sent for recycling – extending their life cycle.
YDMT’s Plastic Free Woodlands officer, Mike Appleton, said:
“Thanks to local landowners, dedicated volunteers, and the team at Craven Auction Mart, we were able to remove more plastic from the landscape and therefore stop the potential pollution of our soil and water courses at source. It takes the total number of shelters recycled through the project to more than 50,000.
“This is our third central collection in the Dales, and we believe we have found a system that works for everyone. We have enjoyed bringing volunteers out to the countryside to help remove this plastic – as well as providing a service to landowners who want to do the right thing for the environment.”
YDMT’s Plastic Free Woodlands project, which is supported by the European Outdoor Conservation Association(EOCA), also aims to trial alterative shelters across a number of differing sites and create sector wide change in the use of plastic in woodlands creation.
