Recycle your natural Christmas tree with SSDC's treecycling scheme
Released On 19th Dec 2019
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but have you thought about how you can help the environment and recycle your Christmas tree after the 25th?
After the festivities are over for another year and you've sorted out your wrapping paper, packaging from presents, extra bottles and so on for recycling, please don't forget your Christmas tree.
South Somerset District Council’s treecycling scheme gives you the opportunity to dispose of your natural Christmas tree at 49 different locations across the district, with the tree being shredded and used for flowerbed mulch by the district council.
All the locations can be found on the South Somerset District Council website at www.southsomerset.gov.uk/treecycling, which also details what date you will need to have your tree at the collection point by in order for it to be taken away and shredded.
Before you take your tree to be recycled don't forget to remove all decorations (and presents!) and take it out of its pot.
Councillor Sarah Dyke, portfolio holder for Environment at South Somerset District Council, said: “We’ve been running this scheme for several years now and it’s proved to be very popular, with hundreds of trees being recycled and shredded every year. By recycling and chipping them into mulch, real Christmas trees can become climate positive by creating an environmentally beneficial additional use. This scheme also helps to ensure the trees don’t end up in landfill, helping to remove any unnecessary carbon emissions from the atmosphere.”
Councillor Dyke added: “I would also encourage everyone to recycle as much as possible throughout Christmas to help reduce the overall amount of waste.”
Alternatively, decoration-free natural Christmas trees under 6ft can be recycled by composting. Take decoration-free natural trees to any recycling site for composting. If you pay for a garden waste collection, put out your tree next to your bin or sack on your usual waste collection day from Monday 6 January. As a last resort, put your tree next to your refuse on your usual collections day.
What can I do with an artificial tree?
If your artificial tree won't make it through another winter then you can recycle these at any Household Waste Recycling Centre in Somerset. If your tree is still in good condition when you decide to replace it, why not ask friends and family, advertise it on an exchange website or donate it to charity so someone else can use it?
To view all of our news releases, please visit www.southsomerset.gov.uk/latest-news
