Have a merr-E Christmas!

With the festive season fast approaching Cumbrians are being challenged to think about the environment and consider sending green Christmas greetings.

This year alone people in Cumbria will send around 8.3million Christmas cards, and while more cards than ever are being recycled, many still end up being thrown away with the rubbish.

To slash the number of cards going to waste Resource Cumbria, the county`s waste partnership, has teamed up with CN Group and is encouraging people to send their seasons greetings in an Electronic card (E-card) rather than in the more traditional format.

And as part of the E-card drive Cumbrians are being challenged to replace just one traditional Christmas card with an E version to see how much waste can be avoided. A log of how many E-cards are sent will be kept and the final figure could be published in the New Year and converted into landfill cost savings.

E-cards are quick, easy and can be sent completely free of charge by visiting http://www.ecards.cngroup.co.uk/ (external link) and selecting a card, typing in a personal message and then simply sending it to the recipient`s email address.

Martin Allman, Cumbria County Council`s waste prevention manager, said: "Sending E-cards is not only good news for the environment, it will also save you money.

"Even if people just replace one of their standard Christmas cards with an E-card it will make a big difference in reducing the amount that gets thrown away in the New Year."