Recycling in France: Ideas to give your Christmas tree a second life

Many towns and communes offer collection services or home pick-ups for old Christmas trees if you cannot take them to the tip. 

Note that fly-tipping rules apply for Christmas trees just as they would for other types of waste, starting at €35 and rising to €150 for aggravated cases.

Here is how to give your tree a second life.

You can correctly dispose of an old tree by taking it to the green-space bin at your local tip. Many communes also organise doorstep collection at specific times and dates (check with your marie).

The trees are then shredded and used as biomatter or compost, which can produce between 300 and 400kg of compost per tree, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Alternatively, if you have goats, sheep or rabbits, you can let them eat old trees (as long as they do not have any glitter / equivalent) - pine bark is a natural vermifuge .

In some areas they are also used to help fight coastal erosion.

This is the case in several communes along the Nouvelle-Aquitaine coast that have been organising Christmas tree collection and recycling operations in collaboration with the Office national des forêts (French forestry office or ONF) since 2016.

However, the ONF warns that people should not take old trees to the beach themselves, as many areas do not require this protection and unorganised dumping can harm the environment.

Read more: Grass clippings: what to do if the tip does not accept them in France

Here are collection points in some towns / cities

• Paris

• Marseille

• Bordeaux

• Montpellier

• Toulouse

Many other communes including those in rural areas also offer doorstep collection or pick-up points. Contact your mairie for more information.