How and where to recycle or donate your Christmas tree in Manchester | 2026

The new year is here, and the ’12 days of Christmas’ are up… which means it’s time for a fresh start.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve both feel like things of the past now, and for most of us, this is our first proper week back at work too, which means (if you haven’t already) it’s time to tackle the task of taking down and putting away all the festive decorations – even if it is one of the dullest times of the year and it signals that the magic of Christmas is over.

For those of us that opt for a real Christmas tree though, the end of the year always brings one question – now what do we do with it?

Manchester City Council has aimed to answer that very question by providing residents with a handful of different ways to recycle their Christmas trees to make sure they’re put to good use and don’t go to waste or get dumped.

Here’s the different options.

___

Recycle it in your food and garden waste bin

You can recycle your Christmas tree by cutting it up and placing it in your food and garden waste bin, but you’ll need to make sure you take the following steps before doing so.

1. Remove all decorations and fairy lights
2. Take off the base or wooden block if your tree has one
3. Make sure the trunk is not thicker than your wrist. Wood thicker than your wrist is too big and can’t be put in the garden and food bin. Large trunks and wooden bases can be taken to a recycling centre.

Donate it to charity

Did you know you can donate your Christmas trees to charity? That’s right – for residents living in Manchester, all you’ll need to do is register your tree with national charity JustHelping, along with a donation towards the collection, and you can help a local hospice or charitable cause in the city-region.

The money raised will go to good causes in the area, including Moya Cole Hospice (previously St Anne’s Hospice), Francis House, and We Love Manchester.

You can find more information and register your tree here.

Take it to a local drop-off point

You can drop your real tree throughout January at: 

• Angel Meadow Park (entrance Old Mount Street) – M4 4HA
• Castlefield Bowl – M3 4JR 
• Cutting Room Square (Cotton Street side) – M4 6BF
• Smithfield Estate, Northern Quarter (opposite Smithfield Craft Centre) – M4 5JD
• Sackville Gardens – M1 3W
• Wythenshawe Park and Gardens Athletics Track – M23 0PH   
• Heaton Park (Middleton Road entrance) – M8 4NB
• Boggart Hole Clough (near the Visitor Centre) – M9 7DH
• Patchett Street, off Hyde Road in Ardwick – M12 4RY

Bring it to your local recycling centres

And finally, wherever you live in Manchester, you can take your real Christmas tree – and even your artificial tree that is beyond reuse – to your local recycling centre for free of charge, but it’s worth noting that if you’re planning on using a van, pick-up truck, or a twin-axle trailer to dispose of your tree, then you’ll probably need to apply for a permit.

You can find information about your nearest recycling centre here.

Read more:

• Top 10 most disliked Christmas foods revealed – and sprouts aren’t number one
• More than 12 million Brits think Yorkshire puddings belong with your Christmas dinner
• Festive foods that are toxic for pets and the warning signs to watch out for

Are you elsewhere in Greater Manchester? Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) has teamed up with local councils and charities across the region to provide Greater Manchester residents in all 10 boroughs with several different options for either recycling or donate their old Christmas trees.

Find out everything you need to know here.

___

Featured Image – Jelleke Vanooteghem (via Unsplash)