Car park users contribute trees to reforestation project

Published Tuesday 11 January 2022

Car park users in the Harborough district have contributed to a donation of 105 trees - part of 51,770 trees nationally - to mangrove projects in Madagascar.

Harborough District Council took part in Green Christmas, an annual initiative from its cashless parking payment provider, PayByPhone. The project will support reforestation and also provide food and medicine to villagers on the island country in the Indian Ocean.

Green Christmas poster

Green Christmas sees PayByPhone turn parking transactions into trees. For every 100 parking transactions processed in December, PayByPhone plants one tree in Madagascar, through its partner, Eden Reforestation Projects, an NGO that preserves the world’s rapidly disappearing forests.

Cllr Paul Dann, Harborough District Council's Cabinet lead for car parking said: “We are delighted to have played our part in Green Christmas, helping PayByPhone donate trees, especially as environmental stewardship is so important to us. And we would like to thank all our residents and visitors, who made this possible by using PayByPhone’s cashless parking payment services throughout December. Paying with PayByPhone is fast and safe, as there is no need to touch parking machines or to queue to pay, and drivers can extend parking sessions from anywhere, so they don’t need to rush back to their cars or risk a parking fine.”

Rebecca Maisey, UK Client Director for PayByPhone, says, “Green Christmas is a very important annual programme for us and taking into account all of the transactions from December means we will have planted a total of 128,923 trees since Green Christmas was launched in 2019. Environmental consciousness is at the core of our business decision-making and Green Christmas is just one of the ways we are helping to leave a sustainable legacy for future generations."

For more information about Green Christmas, visit www.paybyphone.co.uk/greenchristmas