National Trust takes an axe to its plastic tree guards

When you have plans to grow 20million new trees by 2030, you need to protect the saplings.

But the plastic guards used to stop animals stripping them hardly fit in with the modern green agenda.

So the National Trust is branching out by experimenting with sustainable methods such as 'crates' made from diseased trees, protecting them with shrubs – or even using tubes of cardboard or wool.

The charity wants to increase woodland cover on its land and cut its carbon emissions to net zero.

It collects and reuses plastic guards, but the expense of having enough is becoming a problem.