Oh Christmas Tree: Composting at Christmas4 December 2012 | HOTBIN Composting 12 Days of HOTBIN Composting
Christmas trees have both an environmental as well as an economic cost. According to the Local Government Association, each tree costs more than £2.30 in fees and landfill taxes to send to landfill and . The carbon footprint of a 2-meter tall tree is 16kg of CO2e; this is due to methane gas being produced as the whole tree decomposes. Interestingly burning or chipping trees will reduce this carbon footprint by up to 80%. Reduce the Environmental and Economic Impact Once you have finished with your Christmas tree in your home you can put it to use in your garden – needles and all. Reap the additional benefits of your tree all year round by adding parts to your HOTBIN, recycling tree waste into rich compost. Thicker parts of the tree, including some branches and the trunk may be too big to chop. These can be put through a chipper if you have access to one, this can then be used as bulking agent as long as it is kept dry. Parts will take some time to digest due to the lignin content, however if chopped/shredded to less than 4cm the decomposition process will be sped up. We recommend adding little and often mixed with lots of other easy-to-digest waste. It’s not only your tree you can compost, you can also add in some of your decorations. So if it’s time to get rid of some of the old ones then check out the following list to see if you can compost them.
Composting your Christmas tree might sound like a lot of effort but real trees are still a ‘greener’ option compared to artificial trees. To put it in perspective you would have to a keep an artificial tree for a whopping 10 years to get the lower carbon footprint than a real tree and you wouldn’t get that fresh pine smell every year.
| Forum Email us
|
0808 168 8499 |