THIS weekend marks the deadline for households to dispose of natural Christmas trees.
Work will start shortly on shredding hundreds of discarded trees to make chippings or compost which will be used around the island’s parks and gardens.
Trees can still be recycled at the Douglas tip at Middle River industrial estate and in the north of the island Ramsey Town Commissioners is also offering the service.
Trees can be taken to the commissioners’ nurseries at the corner of North Shore Road and Park Road between 8am and 4pm today (Thursday), 8am to 3pm tomorrow and 8am to midday on Saturday.
Dave Hewes, head of parks for Douglas Council, said the Christmas trees they collected along with plant waste generated around the borough’s parks and gardens meant they were more or less self sufficient in compost and mulch.
‘It gets used in flower beds and borders and some of it is used to form our own growing medium for shrubs and bedding,’ he said.
The shredded vegetation is stored in 20-tonne piles and turned periodically as it rots down.
It remains there for six months, generating a heat in the centre of the pile of around 60 to 70 degrees centigrade. Sterilised soil is then added to produce a growing medium.
‘It’s all sustainable. As well as the Christmas trees each year all our own waste comes back to the nursery,’ he said.
