Is it time for plastic tree guards to be banned?

A short, animated film about a young girl's puzzlement at all the plastic tree guards littering the Yorkshire Dales, is voiced by Skipton teenager, Hamnah Khalil.

So, when did ‘plantations of plastic’ become the accepted way to plant trees, improve wildlife corridors, bolster riverbanks and capture carbon?

The answer is in 1979, when plastic tree guards became the widespread means of protecting sapling trees from being eaten by mammals such as deer, squirrels and voles. Prior to this time, nature decided which trees survived and which didn’t, helping create natural, resilient woodlands.

Despite the so-called benefits of planting trees in plastic tubes, the Yorkshire Dales still ranks third lowest - after the Norfolk Broads and the Pembrokeshire Coast - in terms of tree cover out of all the National Parks in England and Wales, according to National Parks Health Check Report 2024 by Campaign for National Parks.

The Yorkshire Dales also has a staggering estimated three million tubes − a third redundant − littering the landscape.

Such tubes if left uncollected either become absorbed by the expanding trunk of the tree or degrade and shatter into microplastics polluting soils and watercourses with harmful chemicals – which then make their way into our rivers. Indeed, the older microplastic particles are, the more toxic they can become as they can also harbour pathogenic microbes and absorb other pollutants such as lead, zinc and cadmium.

“Despite garnering the support of Campaign for National Parks and 11 out of the 12 National Park Societies of England and Wales to support our plastic free woodlands campaign over the last five years, along with influencing planting organisations such as the Woodland Trust, this toxic legacy continues to be created,” explains Bruce Mcleod, trustee of Friends of the Dales.

“We believe it’s important to keep trying to engage with new audiences and highlight the great climate irony of planting trees for carbon sequestration inside a tube made from polypropylene, a product of the fossil fuel industry.

“The other irony is that recycling is always offered as a solution for the litter of tubes, but recycling is a form of green washing, as aside from the low percentage of plastic actually recycled, the process is highly toxic with microplastics spread to the environment during the recycling process."

Bruce added: “We therefore hope that our short, educational video produced in collaboration with environmental learning providers, Foggy Outline might be seen as an important tool by schools, colleges and community groups for highlighting these issues from a fresh perspective, especially to younger people who are starting to engage with environmental matters.”

The short, animated film shows teenager, Amira visiting the Yorkshire Dales with her family. Awed by its beauty but puzzled by the thousands of plastic tubes, she returns home to find out more and starts to research alternative types of tree guards such as those made from widely available sheep’s wool.

Performing the voice of Amira is Hamnah Khalil, a year 11 pupil at Skipton Academy.

She says: “It was an interesting experience, teaching me more about the area I live near and to be more aware of my surroundings, especially when there are such things like plastic tree guards polluting our planet and little is being done about it.

"I was able to speak to my family and friends about the issues in our environment and how concerning it is. I also really enjoyed performing the voice over and would love to have further opportunities like this.”

Amira’s Story – No More Plastic Tree Guards can be watched or downloaded from www.youtube.com/@friendsofthedales Gargrave-based Friends of the Dales campaigns for a sustainable future for the Yorkshire Dales.

It has more than 40 years experience in taking direct action on issues of critical importance to the Dales. These include affordable housing, rural bus services, biodiversity, green lanes, pollution, farming, and landscape conservation.

It is advocates for the Dales, lobbying government and intervening where appropriate. The charity monitors significant planning applications, such as phone mast schemes, and comments on many each year – supporting those it believes are right for the Dales. It also hosts events to raise awareness of issues, such as the pollution caused by using plastic tree guards and the degradation of peatlands.

In 2014, it set up its Capturing the Past project. The project trains people and groups from across the Yorkshire Dales to catalogue and digitise their own local history archives. Ten years on it now hosts 5,000 catalogue records from some 34 large collections and 19 individual contributions, accessible as downloadable photos, wills, and parish records.

To find out more, visit: www.friendsofthedales.org.uk; or https://foggyoutline.com/