CHESTER residents have recycling all wrapped up this Christmas.

According to the team from the latest eco-friendly present-wrapping scheme, WrapSacks, Chester people rank seventh in the country for thinking about the environment.

WrapSacks are fabric, hand-dyed bags which are an environmentally friendly way of wrapping presents.

Each bag has a unique number and the ultimate aim is to get people to reuse the sack. An estimated 83sq km of wrapping paper is used in the UK every Christmas.

Once the gift bag is registered online, anyone who has ever received one will be able to track the bag’s progress through the Track-a-Sack system.

The system records the number of journeys made by the bag and to date Chester ranks seventh in the league table behind Glasgow, London, Inverness, Edinburgh, Carmarthen and Bristol.

Kate Zappa, of WrapSacks, said: “The recipient of the bag is encouraged to log into the system and enter details like the bag’s unique code, current location and what it contained. Then the bag’s journey, from point of purchase, can be seen by anyone who receives the bag in the future.”

To date, the most extensively travelled WrapSack has done more than 46,000 miles.

Dan Brousson, the man behind the UK launch of WrapSacks, extols the virtues of ‘precycling’ as opposed to recycling.

He said: “While recycling wrapping paper is a positive thing, the process itself still requires energy and chemicals. The WrapSack encourages people to reuse a single form of wrapping and creates a shared experience as it passes from owner to recipient.”

WrapSacks are available in the UK from www.onyabags.co.uk and selected stockists. Prices start from £3.20.