How to recycle Christmas trees in the South

With the turn of the year, it could be time to take down your Christmas tree.

Traditionally, Twelfth Night on Monday 5 or Tuesday 6 January is the occasion to dismantle the skeletal remains of real trees, sweep up the sea of needles and restore furniture to its rightful place in the living room.

People in Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire have a wide range of disposal options.

You can feed a tree to an alpaca, turn it into a trendy dead hedge, or have a charity collect it from your door. Councils also offer services, but these vary widely according to your location.

Some farms and animal shelters are grateful for real Christmas trees.

Goats, donkeys and alpacas are among animals which like to nibble at spruces and firs.

Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary, Berkshire Animal Connection Centre and Bridge End Alpacas near Andover are among sites that welcome chemical-free, undecorated trees.

If you have no animals at hand, you could even consider eating your tree yourself.

The internet is full of recipes such as pine pesto and spruce tip syrup.

However, non-organic trees may have been treated with chemicals, and yew is poisonous so should never be consumed.

Dead hedges are “soaring in popularity”, according to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

Vertical posts can be packed with Christmas tree trimmings as filler and you can even ask your neighbours for more branches.

Other home options include leaving the tree to rot away, which can take a year or two if the trunk is cut into small pieces.

Trees with roots can sometimes be planted and used next year.

However, Christmas trees should not be burned in the home.

The sap and needles burn quickly and may cause a chimney fire or damage wood burners, according to Dorset Master Sweep, a chimney sweep guild member.

Tidings of great joy if you live in Cherwell, Fareham, Gosport, Portsmouth, Rushmoor or Winchester – those councils will collect your tree for free from your home, even if you do not subscribe to the garden waste service.

However, dates vary and so do conditions – for example, you may have to register for collection or cut the tree into pieces – so it is best to check the council website for details.

Many councils set up temporary drop-off points for trees in January.

These include Basingstoke and Deane, Hart, New Forest, Oxford, Reading, South Oxfordshire, Test Valley, Vale of White Horse, West Oxfordshire and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

For the rest, it will have to be a trip to the household waste and recycling centre.

Or you can have the tree collected if you subscribe to the council’s garden waste service and you have chopped it apart – check sites for details again.