Recycling your Christmas tree when the holiday season is over can help grow a greener future for Newark and Sherwood – that is the message from its district council.

Come Twelfth Night when the festive decorations are packed away, why not arrange for your unwanted tree to be picked up for a small fee with the proceeds being used to pay for planting whips and saplings around the district.

Trees collected are chipped and used for path surfacing if suitable or as a mulch on shrub beds to keep weeds at bay.

Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Waste Management team will be collecting trees for a £5 fee from January 6. To book your collection go to www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/christmas/christmastreerecycling

Council leisure and environment committee chairman Councillor Roger Jackson said: “We need to improve our recycling rates throughout the district and our Christmas tree collection service is certainly one way of doing this and will save residents the trouble of their disposal when the festive season is over.”

The district council has also been running a free tree scheme, handing out thousands of trees to households across the district as part of its strategy to protect, promote and enhance the natural environment.

The project follows on from the council’s highly successful Cleaner, Safer and Greener campaign and in particular, the Greener element of that initiative. By increasing the number of trees in the district, not only is the council leading the way in making communities more attractive, greener places to live and work, it is assisting the government in meeting its crucial target of planting 11 million trees between now and 2022.

Trees are vital in the fight against climate change. They help to improve the quality of our air, cool the warming planet, reduce flood risks as well as absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Households are also encouraged to be greener in the New Year by recycling their grass cuttings, trimmings, weeds and plants through the council’s district-wide garden waste scheme.

Any household in the district with a garden and enough space to store a brown bin can apply for the scheme. The annual £35 fee includes use of the brown bin itself and an all year-round collection service – fortnightly between March and November and monthly from December to February.

For more information on the garden waste collection service, visit: www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/gardenwaste/