For those in the using a real Christmas tree camp, there are many benefits including:

• Bringing the outdoors inside during the cold winter months when it’s not as easy to enjoy nature
• A more authentic look
• Makes the house smell amazing
• It's more environmentally friendly

On average, real Christmas trees have a quarter of the carbon footprint of artificial trees, they are biodegradable, usually locally grown and support oxygen production when they are growing.

The major area that real Christmas trees fall short is that they are only usable for a few weeks over one Christmas. This creates a wastage problem. In the UK, over 250 tonnes of real Christmas trees are thrown into landfills each year. It doesn’t seem in the Christmas spirit to dispose of you Christmas tree in a landfill. That’s where our St Helena Hospice Christmas Tree-cycle comes in!

If you’re looking for real Christmas tree disposal in Colchester in the CO1-CO9 and CO11-CO16 areas, then between Friday 10th – Monday 13th January, our volunteers will collect your tree from your house and take it to be recycled in return for a donation to the hospice!

The great thing about real Christmas trees is that they can be recycled and used after their life as a Christmas tree. If left to the landfill, Christmas trees will slowly decompose and release methane into the air and methane is over 20 times better at warming our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Christmas trees can be blended with organic material and turned into nutrient compost which is vital for land restoration and the health of nature.

We send as many as is requested to local animal sanctuaries for food and bedding, the council takes a percentage to process and recycle, and an amount is taken directly to a composting site, where they can be used in wider Essex agriculture.

You can register your tree via the button below in return for a donation to St Helena Hospice. So not only will you be choosing the best end of life care for your Christmas tree, but also supporting us to provide vital end of life care to people in your local community this Christmas.