The charity joined forces with waste and recycling firm Biffa to collect trees across the South West in January where people were able to book a collection in return for a donation to CHSW. The collection in Taunton was organised in conjunction with St Margaret’s Hospice.
Henrietta Olsson, area fundraiser for CHSW said: “There has been a fantastic response to our ‘treecycle’ campaign and it’s been wonderful to turn so many old Christmas trees into much-need funds that will help make a huge difference to local children, young people and their families at the most difficult of times. We were delighted to collect and recycle 937 trees this time which raised a total of £15,202.94!
“Thank you so much to everyone who booked in a tree for collection, we’d love to be able to roll out the service to even more postcode areas in the future. It is such an easy, green and charitable way to support our hospices. We’d also like to thank the team at Biffa for generously donating their time and vehicles to help us collect the trees – we are very grateful for their support.”
Peter Giddings, general manager of Devon & Cornwall, Biffa said: “Giving back to the community through initiatives like the ‘treecycling’ scheme is really important to us. Real Christmas trees can easily be shredded and turned into chippings for parks and woodlands, or composted for local farmers. We’re proud to have helped raise a large sum for a such a brilliant charity.”