Across south east London, councils are offering various ways to recycle your tree responsibly.
Recycling your Christmas tree is a simple way to help the environment and ensure it’s reused in a sustainable way.
Here’s a guide to what’s available in Bromley, Bexley, Lewisham, and Greenwich.
BromleyBromley Council is offering free Christmas tree recycling at temporary green waste sites this January. Please ensure all decorations are removed before dropping off your tree.
-
Saturday, January 11, 11am to 4pm
- Norman Park, Hook Farm Road (off Bromley Common)
- Salt Depot, Shire Lane Spur (Green Street Green)
- Cotmandene Crescent car park (St Paul’s Cray)
-
Sunday, January 12, 8am to 12pm
- Charles Darwin School, Jail Lane (Biggin Hill)
- Unicorn Primary School car park, Creswell Drive (Beckenham)
Trees can also be recycled year-round at the Waldo Road and Churchfields Road reuse and recycling centres.
Proof of address is required.
Residents subscribed to the green garden waste wheelie bin service can also use their bins to recycle trees by breaking them into smaller pieces.
BexleyIn Bexley, Christmas trees can be recycled through the garden waste service, which resumed on January 6.
Residents can subscribe to the garden waste collection service for £70 per year (£75 without Direct Debit).
To use this service, remove all decorations, cut the tree in half, and leave it next to your garden waste bin.
For those not subscribed to the service, trees can be taken to:
- Thames Road recycling centre, Crayford
- Maidstone Road recycling centre, Foots Cray (closed Wednesdays)
These centres are open from 8am to 4pm, except on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day.
LewishamLewisham Council recycles Christmas trees into wood chippings for local parks. You can drop off your tree, free of charge, at designated locations until the end of January.
Sites include:
- Blackheath: Changing Room Carpark (Talbot Place entrance)
- Mayow Park: Mayow Road (Café entrance)
- Sydenham Wells Park: Wells Park Road (Main entrance)
- Telegraph Hill: Kitto Road/Pepys Road entrance
- Blythe Hill: Codrington Hill entrance
- Manor House Gardens: Old Road entrance
- Mountsfield Park: George Lane entrance
- Hilly Fields: Adelaide Avenue/Montague Corner and Bowling Green Corner
- Northbrook Park: Baring Road entrance
- Chinbrook Meadows: Amblecote Road Carpark entrance
- Deptford Park: Scawen Road Depot entrance
- Forster Memorial Park: Whitefoot Lane Top entrance
- Friendly Gardens: Thornville Street entrance
- Broadway Fields: Brookmill Road entrance
If you have a garden waste bin, you can cut your tree into smaller pieces, no thicker than 10cm and no longer than 50cm, and place it inside.
Artificial trees cannot be recycled this way.
GreenwichIn Greenwich, residents using the green top bin service can leave their tree next to their bin from January 6 onwards. Be sure to remove all decorations before collection.
- Christmas trees can also be taken to the Nathan Way Reuse and Recycling Centre, SE28. Proof of address is required for entry.