Recycling your Christmas Tree makes your money go further instead of lugging the dessicated thing out into the front yard and letting the council (or the squirrels) take care of it. In recent years, though, “recycling” natural trees-that is, turning them into compost or using them as firewood-has become increasingly popular. Here’s how to go about it.
Feed the tree to your compost pile. No, you can't just throw a whole Christmas tree onto a compost heap and watch it disintegrate in real time. What you first need to do is reduce the tree into compost-friendly shavings, which can be accomplished either by hand (if you have the time, and if the tree is fairly small) or with the aid of a shredder. You'll still have to be patient, though, because it can take up to a year for a compost heap to digest a pile of wood chips.
It's also possible to (partially) recycle your Christmas tree by raiding it for floral arrangements-clip off a few limbs and stick them in flower pots (along with other plants), or use the needles in a pine-scented potpourri. You'll still have to dispose of the main trunk, but at least the rest of the tree will live on in some useful way.