Recycling Day a Tree-mendous Success
More than 6,000 Christmas trees were recycled free of charge at Dacorum Borough Council’s chipping points on Sunday 8 January.
On the annual recycling day, which has been running in Dacorum for 27 years, residents were invited to take their real Christmas trees to one of three locations – at Cupid Green Depot in Hemel Hempstead, Canal Fields car park in Berkhamsted and Tring Garden Centre. Local Scout groups and the Hospice of St Francis were once again able to offer residents free tree collections.
Despite it being a wet and windy day, the recycling staff worked hard to unload the huge number of trees. These then went through the chipping machines, with more than 200 bags of chippings created for residents to take away and reuse in their gardens as a weed preventative.
The remaining trees and chippings are being recycled into compost to eventually be returned to the soil to help new plants to grow.
Cllr Graham Barrett, Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Services at Dacorum Borough Council, said: ‘I am delighted that so many Dacorum residents took advantage of the opportunity to recycle their Christmas Trees. This is a terrific initiative that has the additional benefit of giving local charities the opportunity to raise funds. I would like to thank the Dacorum team for all of their hard work in making this a great success.’
If you missed the chance to recycle your Christmas tree on the day, you can still do this at the recycling centres in Eastman Way, Hemel Hempstead, or in Northbridge Road, Berkhamsted. Trees must not be left at any of the borough’s other recycling sites as this will be treated as fly-tipping.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to the council’s new Garden Waste Subscription Service which will enable you to cut up your tree and recycle it in your green-lidded bin when garden waste collections begin again in the spring. You can find out more about this service at www.dacorum.gov.uk/garden-waste.
If you are looking for more ways to be “waste aware” in 2023, visit the Council’s ‘Top tips to go green’ page for a useful guide on how to adopt other sustainable habits: www.dacorum.gov.uk/gogreen.
For more information and advice about recycling, visit www.dacorum.gov.uk/recycling.