Recycling your real Christmas Tree in Hitchin

Once again you will be able to recycle your real Christmas trees in your brown bin this year.

North Herts District Council (NHDC) will take it away as part of the regular brown bin organic waste collection.

Once the Christmas festivities are over, all you have to do is put your real tree out on a brown bin collection day, either cut up inside the bin or beside it ready for collection. Don't forget to take off any decorations and remove the base of the tree or your tree may not be collected.

Another option for recycling your Christmas tree is to take it to Hitchin's recycling collection point at Wyevale Garden Centre, Cambridge Road, for composting throughout the district.

Last year, NHDC residents chose to take 5.4 tonnes of Christmas trees to these centres helping to alleviate the annual problem discarded trees. The recycling collection points will be accepting real trees until 13 January but remember to check with the Garden Centre for their opening times.

To help alleviate the large amount of additional cardboard packaging that inevitably comes with giving presents at Christmas, NHDC will be holding a special cardboard collection service on 30 December from 9.00am until 3.00pm at Woodside car park in Hitchin.

Cllr Peter Burt, portfolio holder for Waste Recycling and Environment said: "We have taken on board what residents have said and made improvements to our waste collection services over the Christmas period by increasing opportunities to recycle. By composting Christmas trees in the normal brown bin collection saves residents the time and fuel of transporting them to the recycling points. The cardboard collection events will also help to free up more space in residents' brown bins."