Sainsbury's used to run large-scale Christmas card recycling schemes supporting charities like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), but these nationwide programs have generally stopped, with no big supermarket scheme running currently for the 2024/2025 season. You should now put plain cards in your household paper recycling, or check local council guidelines; you can also cut out fronts for crafts or donate to specific charities like Community Cards if you want to reuse them.
Each year we invite the public to bring their Christmas cards to M&S stores and for every 1,000 collected, M&S plants a tree. Since 2012 more than 32 million cards have been collected and 32,000 trees have been planted. Each one of these trees is vital in our fight back against the impacts of tree disease.
It's important to destroy old credit cards until they're rendered unusable. To destroy plastic cards, cut with scissors or shred and dispose of the pieces in separate bags. To get rid of metal credit cards, return them to your credit card issuer for safe disposal.
Paper-based cards and their envelopes can be recycled either through your home recycling or at your local recycling point. Sadly, extra decorations like gems, glitter or ribbon can't be recycled, so you'll need to tear those parts off the card and bin them. The same goes for gift tags and crackers, too.
The Greatest Gift | Sainsbury's Ad | Christmas 2016
Does Tesco take old Christmas cards?
Tesco extra superstores along with WHS stores provide collection boxes for your used Christmas cards. Be innovative! Turn last years Christmas cards into this years gift tags. Try to cut down on the amount of cards you send.
There's no wrong way to do this. Some people read the cards, appreciate the messages and throw them away. Others display the cards they receive for a week or two and then toss them. Others hold on to them forever.
Yes, greetings cards can be put in the blue bin, but please remove any parts that contain plastic, glitter, batteries, electronics or other embellishments before recycling. Read more information about what you can put in your blue bin.
The Sainsburys scheme supports the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). A cash donation is made to the FSC based on the volume of cards received. Last year the FSC received a 10,000 donation from Sainsburys. Tesco: Tesco are providing a kerbside collection for service for Christmas Cards to make the process even easier.
The supermarket chain told Newsround it offered recycling for plastic at all of its stores and it was still committed to helping customers in their "efforts to help the planet" but it wanted to "avoid duplicating the recycling services offered by local councils".
Soft plastics, plastic films, plastic bags and wrapping, flexible plastics – whatever you call them; these can now be recycled at your local supermarket.
Birthday cards that are covered in glitter or made from photo paper cannot be recycled. If the card has a battery in it, like one that sings, the battery needs to be removed before recycling. However, if the card has a sticker on it, that's okay to keep on the card.
It's best to cut your card into pieces, making sure to cut through the chip and magnetic strip and put the card in with your normal waste, rather than your recycling. If possible, don't put all the pieces of the card in the same bin or with any related documentation such as receipts or statements. Was this helpful?
You can recycle paper-based Christmas and envelopes. Therefore, most traditional Christmas cards are recyclable, and you can put them in your household recycling bin or take them to local recycling points (such as a nearby household waste recycling centre or some supermarkets).
It is the best Christmas card etiquette to have all your cards placed in the mail by the first week of December (or earlier). This will ensure that your recipients have at least two weeks to display their cards and appreciate them as they await the arrival of Christmas Day.
