With Christmas sadly coming to a close, the arduous task of taking down your festive decorations looms.
And deciding what to do with your tree once it’s been stripped of its baubles is one of the more stressful experiences this side of Christmas Day.
Fortunately, scientists have shared their simple tips to deal with it properly while keeping your carbon footprint as low as possible.
This could help prevent piles of abandoned firs lining the streets well into January.
Professor Ian Rotherham, an ecologist at Sheffield Hallam University, said there’s a number one rule to follow when it comes to Christmas tree disposal.
When it comes to disposing of your Christmas tree, experts suggest getting it collected or recycled to reduce your carbon footprint
And that is not to send it to landfill by dumping it with the rubbish.
Even though it’s a tempting quick fix, fir trees release harmful greenhouse gases when they decompose in landfill.
‘Disposal at landfill is much more damaging than incineration,’ Professor Rotherham told MailOnline.
Burning the tree is also a bad option because it releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air and can also be dangerous.
Even if you’re incinerating the tree in a big garden, the needles and small twigs also have a large surface area, making them flammable and difficult to control.
So what should you do instead?
Your local council will likely collect it and recycle it – although you might have to take it to a drop-off recycling point nearby.
What’s more, many Christmas tree retailers such as Pines and Needles and Tree2Me offer a collection option so it can be repotted and used again next year.
Alternatively, charities will come to collect your tree to repot or recycle it by turning it into chippings to be used in the local community.
‘If the used tree is recycled as woodchip, then all that material is ultimately returned to the soil and only a small proportion returned immediately to the atmosphere,’ Professor Rotherham said.
Christmas trees can be shredded into chippings which are then used locally in parks or woodland areas
The JustHelping website lets you find your local charity offering the service, in exchange for a small fee.
As another option, you can repot it yourself to use for many Christmases to come, as long as it receives water regularly.
‘Use it over several years and finally plant it outside to grow on,’ Professor Rotherham said.
‘That way you will even mop up a little of your carbon footprint from other Christmas celebrations.’
If you decide to repot your tree in your garden, you might be worth sawing off about one inch (3cm) from the bottom of the trunk.
‘This creates a fresh cut and opens up the pores in the bark through which the tree can drink water,’ said Veronika Kusak, director at Pines and Needles.
Another possibility, according to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), is cutting the tree into sticks and staking them neatly in a corner of the garden to provide a home for insects.
‘The chopped-up tree can be stacked in an out of the way part of the garden where it will slowly break down and disappear, feeding and sheltering wildlife as it decays,’ said RHS chief horticulturist Guy Barter.
More than eight million Christmas trees are thrown away each year in the UK, with many dumped or abandoned on the streets in the days after New Year
More than eight million Christmas trees are thrown away each year in the UK, with many abandoned on the streets in the days after New Year
Many don’t even get picked up or collected, making dead fir trees a common sight well into January or even February.
Britain has been described as a ‘Christmas tree graveyard’ in the first few months of the year and a sad reminder that the festive season is well and truly over.