The Pink (Tree) in the Room

So, it’s all over. The presents have been opened, you’ve used the very last of your leftovers (if not, then here and here are a great start!) and everybody is planning their ‘new year, new me’ strategy.

But there’s an elephant in the room, or rather a tree…

Manchester City Council has put together a super helpful guide on how to dispose of your Christmas tree responsibly.

Simply remove all decorations, lights and, the stand or wooden block at the base of your tree.

Leave your tree next to your green bin on any of your collection days(find those here)

throughout January and the lovely people in the refuse service will recycle it for you!

Live in an apartment? Charity, Just Helping will collect your tree if you live in any of the following postcodes.

• M1, M2, M3, M4, M13, M14, M15, M16, M19, M20, M21, M22 and M23.

All they ask for is a small donation to St Ann's Hospice, they will then arrange collection providing you book before January 8th.

The trees will then be chipped and used in local parks throughout Manchester!

You can book your collection here.

If you have an artificial tree make sure to pack it up nicely, ready for next year so that it may live forever! There is a huge range of ‘tree bags’ to choose from to keep your tree in its best condition.

One of our least favourite things about Christmas is unravelling lights, so grab an old kitchen roll tube or a scrap of cardboard and wrap them around as you take them off your tree! It’ll save you so much hassle for next year!

Christmas is a time of excess, but it's so important to remember to be kind to our environment and help where we can.

Simply making sure you properly recycle (as well as supporting businesses like Open Kitchen to stamp out food waste!) during this season can help us get to a Zero Carbon Manchester, which you can read more about here.