Shropshire Star

Tree-cycle plea to help Shropshire Mind charity

Decorations have gone back in the loft, cards taken down from the mantlepiece and Christmas trees, one of our main festive traditions have been cast out into the cold.

Published
Sorting through the real Christmas trees for recycling are Veolia staff, from left, Richard Oakley, Francis Williams and Alan Taylor..

But the real trees are being given a second lease of life and helping to raise money for charity.

Veolia, the waste contractor working with Shropshire Council, is urging the county's residents to ‘Tree-cycle’ by putting the evergreens into their green bins.

For every tree recycled, Veolia will make a donation to a local charity, Shropshire Mind.

All the trees that are either put in the bins or taken to the household recycling centres in Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Craven Arms, Whitchurch and Bridgnorth will be sent for composting to be used by local farmers and gardeners.

Tim Walters Communications Manager for Veolia, said that with last weekend seeing the traditional January 6 date for decorations coming down there had already been several trees taken to the centres.

“During the first few weeks of January, residents can recycle their real Christmas trees by simply putting them out for collection in their garden waste bin. And as a way of thanking residents for recycling their real tree, Veolia will make a

donation to Mind Shropshire.

“If their tree is more than five feet tall, they just need to cut it into sections to fit into the garden waste bin. All real Christmas trees collected will be ‘recycled’, sent for composting, and turned into valuable soil improver for local farmers and gardeners.”

Last year, more than 4,000 real trees were recycled by Shropshire residents both at the kerbside and at one of the five Household Recycling Centres in Shropshire.

Mr Walters said most Christmas decorations could be recycled with the exception of cards and wrapping paper with glitter on them.

Heather Ireland from Shropshire Mind said: “We are delighted that Veolia have chosen us as the recipient of their charity fundraising efforts this year as part of their Treecycling initiative. We would

encourage everyone to recycle their Christmas trees, in order that Veolia can continue to raise money.

"Every penny raised will be spent in Shropshire to support people living with mental ill-health though our daily drop-in service and the variety of groups that we offer."

Shropshire currently recycles just over 54 per cent of its waste in Shropshire which is well above the national average. You can find out more recycling advice on the Shropshire Council website www.recycleforshropshire.org.