PEOPLE are being urged to recycle their real Christmas trees to support a local hospice.
The annual TreeCycle scheme which sees volunteers collect trees in exchange for a donation to St Giles Hospice.
The deadline to book a collection is 10am on 7th January. They will then be picked up between 10th and 13th January.
Sam Colclough, community and events officer at St Giles Hospice, said:
“Our TreeCycle relies on the dedication of our volunteers and the generosity of our community.
“Last year, volunteers helped us to collect 3,833 Christmas trees, raising over £67,000 to help fund care for local people and their loved ones living with a terminal illness.
“This year we’re hoping that even more people will sign up to have their real Christmas tree collected and recycled to make this our most successful TreeCycle yet.”
St Giles has previously had to hire vans for Treecycle, but long-time supporter Logan Khan has secured sponsorship for all of the vehicles, meaning the savings can provide even more funds for the hospice.
It comes after his mother spent her final 12 weeks at the hospice in 2019.
He said:
“If you had to have your last days anywhere in the world, I can’t think of anywhere better than St Giles Hospice. Their care and love inspired me to do everything I can to support them.
“I put out a call on social media asking for sponsors, and within two hours all 15 vans were covered by my clients and network, including two that I personally sponsored.”
All trees collected will be chipped and recycled at Greener Composting in Lichfield, where they will be transformed into compost for agricultural use.
Chloe Hope, head of fundraising at St Giles Hospice, said:
“We’d like to thank Logan for supporting TreeCycle this year, as well as other businesses supporting the initiative – we simply couldn’t run it without the generous support of our community.”
For more information about Treecycle, including all post code areas covered, and how to register your tree for collection, visit www.stgileshospice.com/ treecycle.