The Paperboard Packaging Council, which is headquartered in the Sovereign Bank building on Court Square downtown, assisted representatives of the city’s forestry department and ReGreen Springfield, Inc. in planting a Princeton Elm tree at the far end of Court Square Park on Wednesday, April 18, 2012.

The Paperboard Packaging Council was the first entity to step forward to offer to donate money last June to the City of Springfield to help replace some of the trees lost in last year’s devastating tornado.

Following the event, members of the Paperboard Packaging Council handed out tree saplings free to the community.

The tree planting coincides with the Council’s annual Trees Into Cartons, Cartons Into Trees program, in which PPC members from across the country and Canada help to educate students and their community about the environmental benefits of trees and the importance of recycling.