Braintree District Council would like to thank residents for recycling their real Christmas trees.
When the 2022 festive season was over, Braintree District residents looked to recycle their real Christmas trees in order do their bit to help the environment.
On Saturday 14 January, the council visited ten locations across the district so residents could bring their trees along to be recycled and shredded into chippings, to be reused as a mulch for shrub beds in parks and woodlands. On the day, residents dropped off 132 trees in total.
Cllr Wendy Schmitt, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and The Environment, Braintree District Council said: “It is encouraging to see that residents are keen to address climate change by taking individual steps, which when added together will contribute towards making a bigger impact on the issue of climate change.”
Farleigh Hospice also collected 485 trees from postcodes within the Braintree District, which contributed £7,484.56 to a well worthy cause. In total Farleigh collected 2,200 trees from around mid-Essex and raised £42,000 and has expressed their gratitude to everyone for their support.
Cllr Richard van Dulken, Cabinet Member for Operations and Commercialisation, Braintree District Council said: “In these times of financial hardship that many people are facing, it’s heart-warming to see people are willing to support such a good cause by donating to charity and their eagerness to recycle or reuse their Christmas trees.
“On behalf of Braintree District Council, I would like to thank everyone for their support and kindness.”
Debbie de Boltz, Farleigh Hospice Head of Fundraising said: “Thank you to everyone who registered their tree and made a generous donation. This enables Farleigh to help more local people to live well until the end of their lives.
We are very grateful to all our wonderful volunteers from local companies, organisations, councils, and individuals who so kindly help us every year to make the tree recycling so successful.”