Council to collect Christmas trees from outside your home in Banbury as part of composting initiative

The council’s waste and recycling crews will be collecting trees from outside people’s houses from Tuesday, January 7, until January 17.

Residents just need to leave their unwanted real Christmas trees next to their blue recycling bins.

Cllr Ian Middleton, portfolio holder for neighbourhood services, said: “For many people, a real Christmas tree is the focal point of their household festive decorations.

“Whilst the most sustainable option is a living tree that can be nurtured and re-used in subsequent years, there are still over eight million cut Christmas trees being sold each year, and it’s important to make sure those are disposed of in the most sustainable way.

“Christmas time sees extra household waste being generated, and I’d like to thank our bin crews for the hard work they put into ensuring that all this gets collected.

“I’d also like to recognise the brilliant work residents do with correctly sorting out their waste and recycling—I hope we can make an even greater impact in 2025.”

The council reminds residents that all decorations must be removed from trees and that any tree over five feet tall must be cut in half.

The trees will be taken to a site in Ardley, where they’ll be composted at high temperatures before being redistributed to farmers for compost.

A garden waste subscription is not needed for trees to be collected.