Recycle your Christmas tree with St Barnabas Tree-cycle and support local hospice care

Tree-cycle is the perfect way to dispose of your Christmas tree in the most environmentally conscious way, whilst supporting your local hospice.

If you’ve made the eco-friendly decision to purchase a real Christmas tree this year, don’t forget to register your tree for a donation with St Barnabas, so it can be recycled or replanted in the New Year.

Our team of wonderful volunteers will be travelling across the county to collect your Christmas trees, between Tuesday 7^th – Sunday 12^th January 2025, in return for a voluntary donation.

For a suggested donation of £19.93, the St Barnabas team will collect your tree, chip it and recycle it.

Trees will be recycled using chippers across the county and potted trees will be replanted locally. The chippings produced can be used for biomass boilers, bedding for farmyard animals, for use in agricultural fertilisers, or they can be turned into mulch for gardens.

By making a voluntary donation for the team to collect your Christmas tree(s), you will be directly contributing to the funding of St Barnabas’ vital services across Lincolnshire, such as our Hospice at Home care.

From Lincoln to Louth, Gainsborough to Grantham and Skegness to Spalding, Hospice at Home nurses are supporting people in the community 365 days a year – including Christmas. This includes patient John, who receives visits and specialist care from the St Barnabas Hospice at Home team, after a palliative cancer diagnosis.

John shares how he has been supported by the team: “After my diagnosis, St Barnabas got in touch with me and asked if I wanted anything to help me in the house. They put handrails on the stairs, I’ve got a chair in the bathroom which I can sit on, and it lowers me down, and I’ve got grab rails in the shower so that I don’t fall.

“They put in place things like that for me which are very, very helpful.”

Further to practical adjustments, the St Barnabas Hospice at Home team have provided John with vital wellbeing support.

He says: “It’s nice to have somebody here to talk to. They come and have a chat with me, ask me how I am, and if there is anything they can do. When you’re on your own, it’s lonely, and you get a bit fed up at times, but I’m very happy with them and they’ve been very good to me”.

A donation of £19.93 allows St Barnabas to care for and support a terminally ill patient in their own home for one hour. For more information about Hospice at Home services in your area, call 0300 020 0694 or visit: https://stbarnabashospice.co.uk/services/hospice-at-home/

Ness Wilson, Events and Innovation Fundraising Officer, and project lead for Tree-cycle, said: “Tree-cycle is open to all individuals alongside local businesses who can also book to have their trees collected. We can accept trees up to 6ft in height. If your tree is larger than this, please trim it down to 6ft or below so that it fits in our collection vehicles. This ensures that our volunteers can collect all trees efficiently.

“Please ensure your tree is left in a clearly visible location, either at the end of your drive or outside your door. We are unable to enter your property, back garden or shed so please make sure the tree is ready for collection.

“We want to say thank you to all our volunteers and for the support we’re receiving from local businesses and communities. Donations to our Tree-cycle fundraising initiative are crucial in supporting the provision of hospice care and services, to 12,000 people across Lincolnshire every day.”

Registrations for Tree-cycle are now open and will close on Thursday 2^nd January 2025 or when bookings reach capacity. Visit the website to see the postcode areas covered and to book your tree collection: www.stbarnabashospice.co.uk/tree-cycle