Operation Christmas Tree is in full swing

The council’s annual Christmas tree collection service is in full swing with tens of thousands of trees being collected from doorsteps during the first fortnight of the year.

The thousands of trees that are collected will be recycled into compost as part of the council’s environmental policies.

Residents with front gardens are asked to put their tree out with their normal collection on bin day. Those without front gardens are being urged to do this sensibly, ensuring they don’t block pavements and cause obstructions for pedestrians.

This free collection service only applies to real trees – not artificial ones – and all decorations, baubles, tinsel and stands should be removed.

People are also being reminded that it may not be the same lorry that collects your normal waste and recycling collection so please don’t worry if your bins are emptied and your recycling sacks taken away before your tree is collected.

Judi Gasser Cabinet Member for Environment said: “As part of our normal early January service, our refuse crews have been hard at work collecting everyone’s rubbish and recycling, as well as the many tens of thousands of Christmas trees, which are taken away and turned into compost.

“Our residents simply need to leave their tree out on their usual collection day and we’ll take it away free of charge.
“We are working really hard to complete this huge task and would ask our residents to please bear with us while we finish the job. We know it will take some time, but residents can rest assured that we will collect every tree as quickly as we can.

“We would however ask that people don’t make the job more difficult by allowing their trees to block pavements. If abandoned trees are creating difficulties for pedestrians, our pick-up crews have to be diverted away from their scheduled collections to deal with this problem, causing delays and inconvenience which we are obviously keen to avoid.”

The free collection service is scheduled to continue operating until January 16. For more information please visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/waste.