New Zealanders en masse were looking for ways to cut back on waste this Christmas – and it means great news for our environment.

Charity Trees That Count saw a huge increase in the number of native trees gifted through their marketplace in the lead-up to Christmas and they say it's evident of a growing movement to put the environment centre-stage.

Trees That Count CEO Adele Fitzpatrick says the number of New Zealanders gifting native trees for Christmas has more than tripled in 2019.

"We get to see firsthand just how much New Zealanders care about our environment and it's undeniable this year that more Kiwis than ever are focusing on what matters to them most when it comes to Christmas gifting.

"We hope this movement keeps growing, where funding and gifting native trees to mark special occasions is just part of our culture and way of life."

In 2018, individuals and businesses gifted a total of 5653 native trees throughout December.

As of December 18, 2019, 19,000 native trees had been gifted.

Adele says the generosity of New Zealanders this Christmas will have enormous benefits for the environment but that Kiwis need to keep digging deep for native native trees in 2020.

"We've got applications in from planting projects around the country for over 300,000 native trees for 2020 and 2021 - which is a huge increase on what we had in last year.

'To support our planters in growing a better future for us all, we'll need people everywhere to get behind them by funding and gifting trees all through the year."

Trees That Count is a programme of Project Crimson Trust, a conservation charity that has proudly been at the heart of native tree conservation efforts in New Zealand for close to three decades.

Trees That Count runs the country's first tree marketplace which connects funded and gifted trees to deserving community groups, iwi, local councils, schools and individuals looking to strengthen their own planting projects.

Their goal is to help New Zealanders plant 200 million native trees by 2026.