South West England: Where and How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree After the Holidays January 2022

South West England councils and boroughs

Most areas have either :

  • Kerbside collection (in some cases, cut the tree and put in the green waste bin - Some allow the whole Christmas tree to be placed by the kerb), or
  • Drop-off locations or
  • Both

In ALL cases, remove all ornaments, tinsel, decorations, lights, stands, pots, planters, netting, etc.

Some household waste and recycling collections have been slightly delayed as a result of the national shortage of HGV drivers, which is affecting haulage sectors throughout the UK. Most residents will not see any change from their normal waste collections dates as over 98% of all collections are unaffected, but...

Always follow the link (click on the council or borough name) to get the most current information. There are often last minute changes; do NOT assume nothing has changed since we last revised this page!.

Avon

Bristol

  • St Peter's Hospice - kerbside collection,
    How it works: Check if your postcode is covered. Book your collection, and make a donation of your choice - they suggest £10 or £20, but it's up to you.
    Leave your tree outside your home by midnight on Friday 7 January 2022 and their volunteers will collect it.
    Collection postcodes: BS4, BS5, BS7, BS9, BS15, BS16, BS20, BS21 with a limited collection in BS41 and BS48. If your postcode is not in this list then I'm afraid we can't collect it this year.
    If you'd like to help, email community@stpetershospice.org.

Dorset

  • Dorset - kerbside collection, or drop-off at a recycling centre
    Dorset Council does not collect whole Christmas trees of any kind with rubbish or recycling at the kerbside but they DO take it inside the green waste bin. Just cut it up to fit inside your garden waste bin.
    Drop-off at a household recycling centre
    Kerbside collection by a charity: For a small donation, they will collect your tyree, but you must register in advance!
    Weldmar Hospice - covers all Dorset Council areas apart from Wareham, Swanage and East Dorset
    Lewis-Manning Hospice - covers the Wareham, Portland, Swanage and East Dorset area
    Diverse Abilities - covers the East Dorset area

Gloucestershire

Artificial Christmas trees - If it's worn out and no longer needed you can take it to Hempsted Recycling Centre, or arrange a chargeable bulky item collection

Real Christmas trees:

  • Gloucestershire - kerbside collection, or drop-off at a recycling centre
    Kerbside collection - If you subscribe to the garden waste service, you can chop up your real Christmas tree and put in your green garden waste bin (make sure all decorations are removed and the lid of your bin is closed). Collections are suspended from Monday after Christmas in December and resume from the second Monday in January.
    If you are not a member of the garden waste service please see details below on how you can dispose of your real Christmas tree
     
  • Cheltenham Borough - kerbside collection, or drop-off at a recycling centre
    Kerbside collection - If you are a garden waste customer leave your tree out with your garden waste bin on your first collection after 16 January 2022 and it will be collected. *Remember there are no garden waste collections between 18 December 2021 and 16 January 2022. Collections will restart in mid-January (17 January 2022)
    If you are not a garden waste customer, Ubico Ltd will collect Christmas trees from 16 January 2022 from the kerbside.
    Christmas tree drop off -
    Swindon Road recycling centre - anytime during opening hours
    From 3 to 17 January 2022, locations around Cheltenham where trees will be collected and recycled:
    Cheltenham Racecourse - New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, GL52 3LT
    Cheltenham Football Club - Whaddon Road, Cheltenham, GL52 5NA
    Old Patesians RFC - Everest Road, Cheltenham, GL53 9LG
    Cheltenham B&Q - Golden valley retail park, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6TA
    Please note: Christmas tree drop off points will have a designated area marked off with cones and a sign. Please only use these areas to deposit your Christmas trees.
    Christmas trees should be free of lights, decorations, pots or stands and trees up to five feet or one and a half metres tall can be left out whole. Trees larger than this need to be cut down before being put out for collection.
    Other items:
    Christmas lights
    Please put Christmas lights in a tied carrier bag and then place them in one of your recycling boxes for collection. You can also take Christmas lights to the Swindon Road recycling centre.
    Christmas cards
    Provided they do not contain foil or glitter decoration, these can be put into your blue cardboard bag, recycled at the cardboard banks at bring sites around the town or taken to the Swindon Road recycling centre. Remember you can remove the foil and glitter section of the Christmas card and recycle the rest of the card.
    Wrapping paper
    Wrapping paper which does not contain foil can be put into your kerbside recycling boxes for recycling. However wrapping paper made from foil cannot be placed in to the kerbside recycling box as unfortunately they cannot be recycled.
  • Longfield Charity - kerbside collection
    Longfield Community Hospice will collect and recycle your real tree for a donation to their hospice care, from properties with the following postcodes from GL2 (2,3,4) GL3 (4) GL4 (0,3,4,5,8).
  • Robinswood Hill -
    From Tuesday 4 January until Tuesday 11 January 2022 between 8.30am to 4pm, you can take your real tree (all decorations must be removed) to
    Robinswood Hill car park, GL4 6SX
    where you'll be able to leave it in an allocated location (do not leave it in any other place as this will be classed as fly-tipping).
  • Eastern Avenue Depot -
    From Tuesday 4 January until Tuesday 11 January 2022 between 9:00am to 3:30pm (excluding weekends), you can take your real tree (all decorations must be removed) to the Depot at Eastern Avenue, GL4 6PG where you'll be able to leave it in an allocated location at the front of the site. Any trees that are left at either location will be chipped, composted and used in parks and open spaces.
  • South Gloucestershire - kerbside collection, or drop-off at a recycling centre
    In all cases, Please remember to remove all decorations, pots and stands before recycling your Christmas tree.
    Kerbside collection - If you have subscribed to the garden waste service you can put your real Christmas tree in your green bin for kerbside collection on your collection day. Please cut the tree into manageable pieces and ensure and make sure the tree is not wedged into the bin.
    You can also buy a single use garden waste sack for £2 from your nearest South Gloucestershire library or alternatively from Country Stores, 48 High Street, Marshfield SN14 8LP. Please attach the sack to the tree and leave out for collection on your normal collection day (you don't need to worry about cutting the tree to fit it in the sack, we are doing special one off collections after Christmas taking any trees as long as they have a South Gloucestershire Council garden waste sack attached to them).
    Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice in Cheltenham will, for a donation of your choosing, collect your Christmas tree from outside your address and take it away to be turned into woodchip mulch
    Register your Christmas tree by Saturday 9 January 2022 for collection from selected GL postcodes between Wednesday 12 January and Saturday 15 January 2022.
    Drop-off - You can also recycle your tree at one of South Gloucestershire's four Sort It centres. Please visit www.southglos.gov.uk/sortit to find your nearest recycling centre.To check your collection day please visit www.southglos.gov.uk/localconnection Recycled trees will be processed with the rest of South Gloucestershire's garden waste and turned into fertiliser and mulch.

     

Somerset

  • Bath - kerbside collection, or drop-off at a recycling centre
    kerbside collection -
    From January 9 to 31 the council will collect your real Christmas tree for composting, as part of their garden waste collection service. Put it at the front edge of your property on your garden waste collection day so that the crews can easily see it. You will have to check the council website to see what week garden waste is collected. If your tree is more than 1.2 meters tall it needs to be cut in half.
    Kerbside charity collection - For a small donation, Dorothy House Hospice Care will collect from nine postcode areas including new areas in Bath and Melksham. Just register in advance on the website, enter your postcode and follow the instructions.
    Drop-off at a recycling centre:
    Bath; Midland Road, BA1 3AT
    Keynsham; Pixash Lane, BS31 1TP
    Midsomer Norton; Old Welton, Wheelers Hill, BA3 2AA

Wiltshire

  • Wiltshire - kerbside collection, or drop-off at a recycling centre
    Kerbside collection - Residents who pay to have their garden waste collected at the kerbside will have their Christmas trees collected. One Christmas tree will be collected per property.
    Drop-off - Residents who don't sign up for the chargeable garden waste service can take their Christmas trees to any of the council's household recycling centres for free.

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