How to recycle and reuse your real Christmas tree

At Wooduchoose we love everything tree related and with Christmas on the way we wanted to publish a short article about how you can recycle and  make the most out of your real Xmas tree.

Real Christmas trees have always been very popular and in the UK between 8-10 million are sold each year. As a country we import around 30% of our trees.

Christmas trees are fast growing softwood trees that create a very good habitat for wildlife. An acre of Xmas trees provides enough daily oxygen for 18 people.

The most popular Christmas trees in the UK are Nordmann Fir and the Norway Spruce.

With a growing focus on sustainability and environmental impact there is a lot of questions on Christmas trees and whether a real or artificial one is best. Artificial tress can be re-used and generally last between four to six years, then end up in landfill sites, where they never break down fully, causing significant damage to the planet.

Real trees, although they have been cut down, have many ways they can be recycled or can be put to use, here are some ideas:

Cut your tree into small parts and mix with the fallen pine needles and this will add a great source of carbon for your recycled compost heap.

Wood chips are great for garden paths and beds. The mulch allows water to seep through and stop weeds form growing. In time they break down and add nutrients to the garden.

If you have an outdoor chicken run then there is nothing a bored chicken loves more that to peck and play with an old Xmas tree in the winter.

Put your old tree in a pot and secure it so it stands up. Then add food and treats to the branches,. This makes a great place for birds to sit safely and enjoy a treat in the winter.

Gather up the fallen needles and put in a sealed bag. Over the year, or when you want an nice Christmas smell, simply add to a bowl of potpourri and straight away you will experience the smell of Christmas.

If you don’t want to use the needles for their smell, just add a handful to some boiling water, leave for a while, strain and you have your own Pine Tea

Chop the trunk and make some small coasters, you may need to leave them to dry out a bit, but they will probably get soaked in tea any way so why bother!

Finally if you really want a real Christmas tree, and you have no room to plant it in your garden after and you really don’t want to throw it away and recycling is not an option, then there is one innovative idea, Rent a Tree!!  No this is not a joke, check out https://rentalclaus.com/ where you can rent a tree from around £40 which can be secured with a fully refundable deposit.

Reuse your real Christmas tree Info Graphic:

Posted on Friday 25 November 2022 at 11:46

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