Christmas is a busy time, not just with all that eating, drinking and being merry. At Christmas time there is a huge deluge of recycling to be done; all that wrapping paper, empty boxes and left over turkey – not to mention the Christmas Tree.

A natural tree is a lot nicer a Christmas ornament than a plastic one and despite the hassle of falling needles, it is no surprise that more and more people are choosing a real tree for Christmas.

However,disposing of the tree after Christmas can be a headache and as only 10 percent of Christmas trees are recycled its something not enough people are doing. But getting rid of that old Christmas tree is difficult and it can even help save you money.

For instance, if you have an open fire or stove, there is no better method than chopping up the old tree and burning it for fuel. However, if you don’t have a fireplace, Christmas trees can still be recycled by composting them.

Composting a Christmas tree is relatively straight-forward although you can just throw a tree onto a composter and except it to degrade. It does require chopping it up into smaller pieces; this can be done with a shredder, or by hand – although it can take time.

A Christmas tree will make fine compost but the process does take time and if you are worried about having a compost pile in the bottom of the garden, consider buying a composter which can keep everything tidy.

Composting shouldn’t stop at the tree either; think about all those left overs from Christmas dinner that could all be recycled into the garden. Kitchen composters are a clean and smell free way of storing scraps before you throw them onto the composter.