Thousands of Dacorum residents have made a great start to being green this 2016 by taking part in the Christmas tree recycling day, held on Sunday 10 January.
In partnership with 1st Berkhamsted Scouts and 1st Tring Scouts groups, this successful annual event has now been running for 20 years, and has proved to be as popular as ever.
More than 1,000 homes registered to have their trees collected by the Scout groups. The trees were then brought to recycling sites in Berkhamsted, Tring and Hemel Hempstead. Undeterred by the stormy weather the night before, each area also attracted hundreds of drop-in recyclers, with people arriving with their trees from 8:30am. Thankfully, the sun shone throughout the day, allowing families, friends and supportive neighbours to add to the sea of trees due to be shredded.
Some dedicated recyclers impressed the shredding crews by bringing their trees along on foot, or even by dragging them along on a push bike. Children as young as two were excited to see the shredder in action, as they waved a final farewell to their festive trees.
In total, an incredible 3,300 trees were recycled in Dacorum, making this the most successful ever Christmas tree recycling event.
Melanie Parr, Environmental Awareness Officer, said: “We should all be very proud; not only is it impressive how many residents decided to recycle their Christmas trees, but also the fact that over 100 beavers, cubs, scouts and scout leaders volunteered to take part in making all of this possible. They’ve proved themselves to be a fundamental asset to our green community.”
More than 11 tonnes of wood chips were created and made available to those who had brought their trees in. These chippings proved very popular with green-fingered residents, with hundreds of sacks being given away, to be used in gardens as a great weed preventative.
Remember, you can still recycle your real Christmas tree at any of Hertfordshire County Council’s Household Waste Recycling Centres. These are located in Eastman Way in Hemel Hempstead and in Northbridge Road, Berkhamsted. Please remember that you must not leave your trees at any of the borough’s other recycling sites, as this will be treated as fly-tipping.
Thank you to everyone who made the effort to recycle their tree this year. If you’re looking for more ways to be green this 2016, check out our useful hints and tips.
Advice about recycling, collections and what can go in your different bins is available at www.dacorum.gov.uk/recycling. Alternatively, call 01442 228000 and ask for Waste Services.