Getting Plastics Out of the National Forest

The National Forest in the Midlands is pioneering a project to get waste plastics out of the woods.

In addition to giving grants for tree planting, the National Forest Company (NFC) is now trialling a scheme to encourage land owners to get redundant plastic tree guards out of the Forest.

Now over 25 years old, the National Forest leads the regeneration of a landscape left scarred and derelict by late 20th century heavy industry.  Through the planting of over eight and a half million trees throughout 200 square miles of the Midlands, the National Forest is transforming lives, the landscape and the economy.

But tree planting brings its own share of environmental challenges.

Plastic tree guards can play a vital role in woodland creation by protecting each individual tree when it is first planted from damage by browsing animals such as voles, rabbits, hare and deer.  As well as protection from animals, a tree guard provides the tree with its own micro climate, rather like its own individual greenhouse.

Charles Robinson, Head of Forestry, NFC, said: “Tree guards are designed to fall off as the tree grows and becomes properly established. Until now, the removal of redundant tree guards has not been a priority in the forestry industry generally.  Many landowners assume that the plastic guards eventually degrade naturally in the environment, leaving many on the ground once they have fallen off the tree. The redundant guards then become another source of plastic waste in the environment. On sites where they have been collected, opportunities to recycle plastic tree guards are limited, leaving landfill, burial or burning the only available options.  We want to address this in the National Forest, and where possible develop ways to work with landowners to get plastic out of the Forest sustainably.”

Robinson continued: “To give an idea of scale, we estimate that, since the early 1990s, as many as three million tree guards have been used in the creation of the National Forest. Nationally, between 2010 and 2015, 11 million trees were planted in the UK, and between 2015 and 2020 the government plans to plant a further 11 million trees. To protect the investment of tree planting, most of these trees will be planted with guards, or protected by fences.

“This issue of plastic waste in the woods is beginning to be addressed. Companies such as Agri-cycle are looking into ways to recycle old tree guards and other agricultural waste, and with them we are now trialling a new grant scheme with our landowners.”

The National Forest Company (NFC) has traditionally grant-aided landowners to plant trees and help create the Forest. This has contributed to the increase of forest cover throughout the 200 square miles of the Forest from 6% to over 20%, more than double the national average. Grants have been awarded to schemes that increase public access, encourage wildlife, and provide a variety of green spaces and woodlands as resources for local people and visitors to the Forest. In addition, the NFC offers funding to encourage woodland management in order to maintain healthy trees and productive woodlands, to open up the canopy to provide more light for wildflowers and wildlife and to create attractive rides (open areas to walk through the woodlands). The National Forest Woodland Management Grant has been so successful that over 70% of all woodlands throughout the 200 square miles of the Forest are now in active management, hitting government targets a year early.

Now the grant scheme offers a strand specifically for tree guard removal.

The work was piloted at Feanedock wood, near Ashby de la Zouch on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, in preparation for the National Forest’s first Timber festival this summer. Teams of volunteers collected twelve builder’s bags of guards, which were then sent to Agri-Cycle, who can recycle plastic tree guards into benches, ground reinforcement blocks (for outdoor use, allowing grass to grow through them) and grain store flooring. Four benches were installed on the festival site, proving very useful for the audience to enjoy the entertainment on a hot weekend in July.

Following the success of the pilot project, nine further sites within the National Forest will be cleared of old tree guards over the coming year through NFC funding. Nearly 40,000 redundant tree guards will be removed over this period, clearing over 17.56 ha of woodland (equivalent to 17 and a half rugby pitches).

For further information on tree guard removal, woodland management and tree planting, see www.nationalforest.org or contact the NFC forestry team on 01283 551211, or email cerobinson@nationalforest.org

 

Media contact:
Carol Rowntree Jones, Media Relations Officer, National Forest Company
Tel: 01283 551211 
Email: crowntreejones@nationalforest.org

For background information on the National Forest see www.nationalforest.org   
Digital images are available. Please contact: media@nationalforest.org

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. FAQ:

Why not use biodegradable guards?

This is not as straightforward as it might appear. The guards need to last long enough to make sure they protect the tree until they are established. Some guards do photodegrade over time, but they only break down into micro plastics, rather than biodegrading into the surrounding environment. It is also difficult to dictate the timeline of degradation, as there are such varying climatic factors across the country/world.

Are there other ways of protecting the trees from browsing animals?

Managing the populations of browsing animals (deer, rabbits, hares and voles) could reduce the need for tree protection to be used.

Where possible, the use of fencing rather than individual guards can be extremely effective, and can be cheaper and more easily recycled. Throughout the National Forest, 60-70% of the sites have been fenced when they were initially planted.

Does the use of tree guards bring any other benefits?

Tree guards allow more flexibility, efficiency and effectiveness of weed control which can be undertaken at any time of year, in most weather conditions, without herbicide drifting in the wind and damaging the trees themselves.

 

2. The National Forest area covers 200 square miles of the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.  Its objective is to increase woodland cover within its boundaries from an initial six per cent to about a third. No multi-purpose forest on this scale has been created in the UK for one thousand years. More than eight and a half million trees have been planted so far, trebling the proportion of woodland cover in the Forest to over 20 per cent. 

 

3. Year by year, the National Forest has been steadily turning what was once one of the least wooded areas of England into a multi-purpose, sustainable forest.  The National Forest provides environmental, social and economic benefits, including landscape enhancement, creation of new wildlife habitats and major new access and leisure opportunities. It is an excellent example of sustainable development – with environmental improvement providing a stimulus both to economic regeneration and to community pride and activity.

 

4. To achieve these objectives, the National Forest Company leads the creation of the National Forest, working in partnership with landowners, local authorities, private business, voluntary organisations and local communities and has strong support from Government, politicians and the public.  The Company, now also a charity, continues to receive grant support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Charity no: 1166563.

 

5. The Government’s recently published 25 year environment plan states: “We will minimise waste, reuse materials as much as we can and manage materials at the end of their life to minimise the impact on the environment.”

 

6. Where practical, natural regeneration is also encouraged as a way of creating new woodlands in the National Forest by allowing tree seed, dispersed by natural means, to germinate and thrive in open ground. When this regeneration occurs in high numbers the need for tree guards is not necessary. But to have trebled forest cover to 20.7 percent in something over 25 years has taken planning and targeted woodland creation, and this will continue to be the primary way the National Forest is created. Only this way will the Forest have the maximum impact as envisioned in the 1990s.

 

7. Sir William Worsley, Chair of the National Forest Company, was appointed national Tree Champion by Environment Secretary Michael Gove in 2018.