Free Christmas tree recycling starts

Please put your tree out in your front garden on your normal waste collection day – please note that a different van is used to so it may not be picked up at the same time as your rubbish and recycling.

If you do not have a front garden you can put it on the pavement directly in front of your home, but only if it doesn't cause an obstruction.

People who live in blocks of flats should leave their trees near to their refuse bin store, making sure they do not block access.

Remove all decorations and pots as the trees are sent for shredding and composting. The free collection service only applied to real trees – not artificial ones.

Please do not just dump your tree in the street. The need to clear pavements from abandoned trees creates delays to the collection timetable and means some will not be collected as quickly as planned.

Cabinet member for environment Judi Gasser said: “During the first weeks of January we will collect many tens of thousands of trees and we would appeal to residents to be patient and abide with us while we complete this huge task.

“Unfortunately experience tells us that some people will simply dump their trees on pavements and street corners and this means our pick-up crews have to be diverted away from their normal collection rounds which just leads to delays and inconvenience for everyone.

“It also means more journeys by collection vehicles than is really necessary and this just adds to the cost of the operation as well as extra congestion on the roads and more pollution.

“If people can please just be patient and make sure their tree is not causing an obstruction, we will pick it up and recycle it as quickly as we can.”   

Residents can also take their unwanted trees to be composted at the waste and recycling centre at Smuggler’s Way. Details and the centre’s opening times can be found at www.wrwa.gov.uk

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