The campaign is held annually in conjunction with major UK retailers, WH Smith and Tesco.

Launched in 1995, PaperChain's objective is to increase the amount of paper and board recovered, and recycled in the UK.

PaperChain director Kathy Bradley said the longevity of the Christmas card campaign was due to its popularity amongst the British public.

This year the national "Recycle Now" campaign is also lending its support to the scheme, which encourages the public to recycle their Christmas cards.

Special recycling bins are situated in WH Smith high street stores and all Tesco Extra and superstores until 31 January.

Last year the scheme recycled 58m Christmas cards but this year the target is 60m.