4 Smart Ways To Recycle Your Christmas Tree
Although taking down the Christmas tree isn’t nearly as fun as putting it up, you can recycle or reuse the tree and its branches in a number of ways. Try these tips!
Although taking down the Christmas tree isn’t nearly as fun as putting it up, you can recycle or reuse the tree and its branches in a number of ways. Here are some tips:
Try These Repurposing Ideas
1. Wildlife Sanctuary
Place the Christmas tree in the garden or backyard and use it as a bird feeder and sanctuary. Fresh orange slices or strung popcorn will attract the birds while they sit in the branches for shelter. Make sure all decorations, hooks, garland, and tinsel strands are removed. To prevent the tree from rolling away in winter winds, secure the trunk to the ground with wire or twine or use stakes dug into the dirt.
2. Wood Chips
A Christmas tree is biodegradable; its branches may be removed, chipped, and used as mulch in the garden. Chop or grind smaller branches for wood chips to use in flower, tree, and shrub beds. Larger branches can be cut into smaller bundles for winter protective mulch around newly planted perennials and small shrubs. Be sure to remove the branches in spring when the plants begin to grow again.
3. Locate A Recycling Facility
Recycle your tree – many communities have tree recycling locations and curbside pickup
4. Contact Your Local Goat Farm
Turns out, goats want to eat your recycled Christmas trees! Goats enjoy the taste of the pine needles, which contain a good amount of vitamin C, and they act as a de-wormer, as well. It’s important to take down all the decorations and tinsel before delivering to your local farm.
Major Uses for Recycled Trees
- Chipping (chippings are used for various things from mulch to hiking trails)
- Beachfront erosion prevention
- Lake and river shoreline stabilization
- Fish habitat
- River delta sedimentation management
Other Ideas
Next year, consider getting a rooted (ball and burlapped or containerized) tree and then plant it in your yard after Christmas.
Before planting, make sure to remove the burlap and twine from the rootball. Nurseries often chemically treat the burlap to discourage root growth.
It’s also a good idea to pre-dig the hole in the late fall while the soil is still soft.
Important: Never burn your Christmas tree in a fireplace or woodstove. Pines and firs are softwood and burn very quickly, but the heat is lost almost immediately. Burning the tree also may contribute to creosote buildup.
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Farmers' Almanac Staffhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/fa-admin
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Farmers' Almanac Staffhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/fa-admin
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Farmers' Almanac Staffhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/fa-admin
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Farmers' Almanac Staffhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/fa-admin
I have had great results using old christmas trees in hugelkulter beds. The strawberry plants left in this bed for over a year when i moved to a different property survived with hardly any water I expected to find them dead when I moved back this spring and was shocked to find them doing fine. The wood buried in the bed is broken down into small very porous damp chunks of rotted wood that breaks when you shovel the bed. I will be doing this to every other bed I have create on the farm as I have a lot of old wood to get rid of. It is a much better use than burning or hauling off
I don’t know what you are burning in your fireplace, wood stove. Here in Montana if you leave out fir and pine there won’t be much left. Folks have been keeping warm with both for centuries. Problem with burning your Christmas tree is it is too green. Merry Christmas!
“Injest” not “Invest”.
Please DO NOT use strung popcorn on outside trees. Birds and animals invest the string and it’s deadly.