Recycle your real Christmas trees this winter for Willow Wood

Local residents are being encouraged to recycle their real Christmas trees with Willow Wood Hospice while supporting patient care in the community this festive season. 

The Hospice is once again collaborating with partners including Tameside Council and Hartley’s Garden Centre to provide a convenient collection and recycling service. 

It will be available throughout Tameside between Monday 6th and Friday 10th January 2025, and in Glossop from Wednesday 8th to Monday 13th January 2025. 

Your tree will be taken away with no hassle, no waste and no needles in your car.

Register your real Christmas tree to be collected today by visiting www.just-helping.org.uk/register-tree. Simply enter your postcode and submit your details via the online form. 

Registration closes at midnight on 2nd January 2025. 

When your registration is complete, stay on the website to make a donation to Willow Wood Hospice, based in Ashton-under-Lyne, which provides specialist care for patients from Tameside and Glossop diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses. 

Samantha Kitch, Fundraising Manager at Willow Wood Hospice, said: “By using our collection and recycling service, you will be disposing of your real Christmas tree responsibly and by donating, you’ll be helping us to continue providing compassionate care to those who need it most in our community. 

“With only 21.5 per cent of our annual funding coming from central government, the support we receive from our community is absolutely vital. With your help, we can improve the quality of life for our patients and those closest to them, helping them to live as well as possible for as long as possible. 

“We would like to thank Tameside Council and Hartley’s Garden Centre for their invaluable support in facilitating our Christmas tree collections this year.” 

In Tameside, the trees will be collected by Tameside Council’s refuse collection team and then mulched to be used in parks across the borough.

Councillor Laura Boyle, Tameside Council’s executive member for environmental services and neighbourhoods, added: “I would like to thank everyone involved in organising this eco-friendly service, which has the twin objectives of protecting not only the environment, but also vulnerable people within our community. 

“I’m delighted to give my full support to this innovative scheme which enables Tameside residents to demonstrate sustainability while giving to a charity that has helped so many people in the borough with the vast amount of positive, valued work that it does. I know all donations will be gratefully received and put to very good use.” 

The collection and recycling service is supported by national charity Just Helping, which assists charities, volunteers and businesses to contribute to their community and the environment. 

After costs, Willow Wood Hospice will receive 85 per cent of donations and up to 15 per cent will be distributed by Just Helping to other local charities.