Kirklees Council’s Christmas ‘treecycling’ campaign set to raise vital funds for The Kirkwood and Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice

Now in its fifth year, the council are once again working in partnership with The Kirkwood and Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice to help give Christmas tree’s a new lease of life once their time to shine is over.

Not only will this save a trip to the tip, or the cost of a bulky household waste collection, but each tree collected will be recycled and go on to benefit the local community.

As always, the charities are offering hassle-free collections, so you can sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that you’re doing something good.

The Mayor of Kirklees, Coun Masood Ahmed, who has chosen the Forget Me Children’s Hospice as his charity of the year, said: “Money raised from this campaign will go a long way in helping the hospice.

“It plays a vital role in helping families with the loss of a child and those children with life-shortening illnesses.

“Knowing that we are also helping The Kirkwood is fantastic and I encourage everyone to support the treecycling campaigns.

“They will make a difference in helping our environment and in the process raise vital funds that will support people in our borough.”

To help with the collections, the council will be providing two vans with staff members to each charity, as well as chipping the trees so they’re ready for re-use.

They are also encouraging their staff to volunteer to help support the collections, as all council staff can take two days of paid leave to volunteer in the local community.

Coun Naheed Mather, cabinet member for the environment, said: “We’re proud to be supporting these two great campaigns again for the fifth year running.

“Not only does it benefit these vital charities, but it also has such a positive impact on the local community and of course the environment.

“Last Christmas almost 3,000 trees were recycled in Kirklees, raising around £38,500 for these fantastic charities.

“The trees collected then went on to be turned into wood chippings to be used as top dressings on soil in local parks, sports fields, and farms, while some got turned into biomass for green heating.

“We are hoping to collect and recycle even more this time.

“As a result, fewer trees will be inappropriately disposed of, valuable nutrients will be put back into the earth and substantial funds will be raised for two very important local Hospices.”

Each charity is slightly different but for a donation of around £10 you’ll not only have your tree collected but you will also help to fund their vital work.

The Kirkwood will be collecting from the following North Kirklees postcodes: WF14, WF15, WF17 and BD19.

To book your tree collection with The Kirkwood, visit https://just-helping.org.uk/register-tree

Registrations close at midnight on Sunday, January 8, with collections taking place between Thursday, January 12 and Sunday, January 15.

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice will be collecting trees from across the whole of Kirklees and some selected additional postcodes.

To book your tree collection with Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, visit https://shop.forgetmenotchild.co.uk/product/xmas-tree-collections/

Registrations close at midnight on Sunday, January 8, with collections taking place between Saturday, January 7 and Sunday, January 15.