How to Dispose of a Christmas Tree for Free

1. Council collection 

Most London councils offer residents a kerbside Christmas tree collection service, usually on their normal bin collection day. Below are the details of each collection service by borough.

 

Borough	Kerbside Christmas tree collection details
Barking & Dagenham	Limited to taking the tree to a local recycling centre.
Barnet	Real Christmas trees will be collected throughout January 2022.
Bexley	Real Christmas trees will be collected from Monday 10 January 2022 for households that have signed up for the Bexley garden waste collection service.
Brent	If you are signed up for Brent garden waste service, you can cut your tree into pieces and place these in your green bin.
Bromley	Residents who are members of the green garden waste wheelie bin collection service can use this service to recycle their real Christmas trees. Trees must be put in the bins for recycling.
Camden	Limited to taking the tree to local recycling centres between Monday 3 January 2022 – Friday 14 January 2022.
Croydon	Free collection service for Christmas tree recycling from 10 January 2022 and it will be collected within a fortnight.
City of London	Real trees can be brought to collection points advertised on their websites and on estates just after Christmas.
Ealing	Real Christmas trees will be collected for recycling between 4 and 29 January 2022 – just leave them out on your black rubbish bin day.
Enfield	If you have subscribed to the garden waste service, you can place your real Christmas tree out for collection on your scheduled day.
Greenwich	Greenwich will collect Christmas Trees as part of the green bin collection service from the week of 10 January 2022.
Hackney	Trees will be collected from your home from 3-14 January on your rubbish and recycling day. Put your tree out on the front boundary of your property by 6 am.
Hammersmith & Fulham	Put your Christmas tree out for collection before 7 am on your regular collection day between Monday 3 January and Friday 21 January.
Haringey	Will collect your tree for free if you have a food and/or garden waste collection - simply place it in your garden waste bin on collection day, until the end of January.
Harrow	Limited to taking the tree to a local recycling centre.
Havering	If you have a garden waste collection, put a chopped up tree in the collection bin on the usual collection date.
Hillingdon	Christmas trees can be recycled for free as part of the weekly garden waste collection service.
Hounslow	Collections from streets between 10th and 21st January 2022.
Islington	If you have a street rubbish collection, leave the tree out on the normal collection date between 4th and 15th January 2022.
Kensington and Chelsea	Kerbside waste collection on the normal collection date between 3rd and 21st January 2022.
Kingston Upon Thames	Real Christmas trees will be collected from Monday 18 January 2021 for a two-week period.
Lambeth	Collecting real Christmas trees for free from 3 January 2022.
Lewisham	If you have a garden waste bin, you can use it to recycle your real Christmas tree. Just cut it into pieces no bigger than 50cm long.
Merton	Put your real Christmas tree out by Monday 10th Jan and it will be collected by the end of the month.
Newham	Garden waste collections are temporarily suspended.
Redbridge	Place your tree at the boundary of your property by Monday 10th Jan 2021, and they will collect over a 2 week period.
Richmond upon Thames	They will collect your real Christmas tree for recycling on the normal scheduled garden waste collection day for your street between 4th and 14th Jan 2022.
Southwark	If you do not receive a food or garden waste collection, email [email protected] stating your name and full address to request a real Christmas collection - then leave your Christmas tree for collection outside your property at ground floor level. Trees over 6 feet long should be cut in half.
Sutton	TBC – but typically they collect from mid-January onwards.
Tower Hamlets	There will be a collection of real Christmas trees from 3-21 January 2022.
Waltham Forest	If you have a kerbside organic collection, leave it next to your brown bin.
Wandsworth	Leave the Christmas tree with the usual rubbish on the morning of collection.
Westminster	You can take your tree to a drop-off point here between Tuesday 28 December 2021 and until the end of day Tuesday 11 January 2022. Opening hours are 8 am to 8 pm unless they are in parks, which close at 4.30 pm

 

Note - if you are a business, council collections normally don’t apply to you and you’ll have to arrange your own disposal method.

 

2. Take to Council drop off point

If your council doesn’t offer a curbside collection service or you don’t fancy waiting for your council to pick up your Christmas tree, you can take it to a council drop off point yourself. Drop off points are located at your local tip / civic amenity site and also at various temporary locations listed below. 

Borough	Drop off points
Barking & Dagenham	Wednesday 5 January, 9 am to 3 pm in Barking Park car park (South Park Drive entrance) Thursday 6 January, 9 am to 3 pm in St Chads Park car park (West Road entrance) Saturday 8 January, 9 am to 3 pm Central Park car park (Bull Lane entrance)
Barnet	Summers Lane recycling centre in North Finchley.
Bexley	Recycling centres at Thames Road in Crayford or Maidstone Road in Foots Cray.
Brent	Reuse and Recycling Centre, Abbey Road, NW10 7TJ (closed 25-26 December and 1 January).
Bromley	Weekend of Saturday 8 (Norman Park, Bromley, and Salt Depot, Green Street Green) and Sunday, 9 January 2022 (Unicorn Primary School, Beckenham, and Charles Darwin School, Biggin Hill).
Camden	Drop off points.
Croydon	Take it to the Household Reuse and Recycling Centre at Factory Lane, Fishers Farm or Purley Oaks.
City of London	Contact your Estate Office or concierge for details about where and how you can recycle your tree.
Ealing	Greenford Reuse and recycling centre, Greenford Road, UB6 9AP
Enfield	Drop off points.
Greenwich	Reuse and Recycling Centre in Nathan Way.
Hackney	Millfields Depot between 4 and 30 January 2022.
Hammersmith & Fulham	Drop off points.
Haringey	Drop off points - only available for the four weeks after Christmas
Harrow	Harrow Recycling Centre in Wealdstone.
Havering	Gerpins Lane Reuse and Recycling Centre in Upminster.
Hillingdon	Drop off points are Harefield Civic Amenity Site and West Drayton Waste.
Hounslow	Drop off points.
Islington	Drop off points here between Jan 4 - 15th.
Kensington and Chelsea	Drop off points here Sunday 2 and Sunday 23 January 2022.
Kingston Upon Thames	Drop off point at recycling centre off Villiers Road.
Lambeth	Drop off point at recycling sites.
Lewisham	Drop off points here.
Merton	Drop off point at Morden Reuse and Recycling Centre.
Newham	Drop off point at Jenkins Lane Reuse and Recycling centre in Beckton.
Redbridge	Drop off point at Chigwell Road tip.
Richmond upon Thames	Drop off points here.
Southwark	Drop off point at Reuse and Recycling Centre on Devon Street (off old Kent Road) - must book a permit
Sutton	Drop off point at Kimpton Park Way, Household Reuse and Recycling Centre.
Tower Hamlets	No drop off points.
Waltham Forest	Drop off points at recycling centres in Leyton, Chingford or Walthamstow.
Wandsworth	The Smugglers Way reuse and recycling centre.
Westminster	25 recycling points here, the last day to drop off is Jan 11th 2022.

 

3. Disposal at Christmas tree retailers

A few London Christmas tree sellers offer a disposal and recycling service:

• Camden Garden Centre - receives old trees for free in its car park from 2nd-10th Jan
• Boma Garden Centre receives old trees for free in its car park from 2nd - 16th Jan
• Clickmas Trees - will collect an old tree for £12.50 from 1st  - 10th Jan

For completeness, we have included the biggest Christmas tree retailer, Pines & Needles, but as you can see their rates are expensive, so we doubt you’ll be using them...

• Pines and Needles (and The Christmas Forest) offer a collection service. Prices start at £30.95 and go up to £65

And lastly...

Here are some useful tips for safe and responsible Christmas Tree disposal:

• Councils only accept the tree, so remove any pots, soil or decorations.
• Artificial trees should go to the tip. 
• If being collected in your garden waste bin, it is necessary to cut the tree down to size.
• In areas where you can leave your tree out to be collected with your usual rubbish, make sure it's not obstructing the pavement.
• Dumping your Christmas tree randomly on the street counts as fly-tipping and can carry a hefty fine

 

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