The festive season is, sadly, beginning to wind down, and over the coming days we’ll all be stripping the decorations off our Christmas trees.
For those of us who went for a real tree this year, there’s always the concern of how to actually get rid of the thing once the celebrations are done.
You can take your tree to a local recycling centre, but if you don’t fancy a boot full of pine needles, local councils are also offering collections.
Just remember to use all traces of tinsel, baubles, fairy lights and whatever else you’ve used to decorate.
Here’s what you need to know for each Greater Manchester borough.
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Manchester
It’s dead easy to recycle your real Christmas tree if you live in Manchester.
Just leave it next to your green bin on any of the green bin collection days in January and they’ll take it away for you.
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Salford
Christmas tree collections are running across Greater Manchester. Credit: Unsplash
Real Salford Christmas trees need to go in the garden waste bin, which is the one with the pink lid.
As with all the boroughs, it needs to be chopped up so the lid shuts, with no branches thicker than your wrist.
Wigan
You can stick your Christmas tree in the green bin in Wigan, chopping it down into pieces if you need to.
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Wigan Council will accept any branches smaller than 15cm in diameter, so if your tree is bigger than that, you’ll need to dispose of it another way.
Bolton
Bolton Council will come and collect, and recycle, your real tree – but for a fee.
For £16, they’ll collect your tree. Just call 01024 336632 before Friday January 7 to arrange.
Bury
Credit: Unsplash
Bury locals – you’re going to need to get your Christmas tree into your brown bin, unless you fancy a trip to a recycling centre.
It needs to fit inside with the lid fully closed before the council will collect it.
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Rochdale
In Rochdale, you can put the base of your tree in your dark green bin, then chop up the rest and put it in the brown bin (as long as the lid can close).
The trunk needs to be thinner than your wrist, as a guideline – if it’s bigger than that, you’ll have to take it to a recycling point, which are listed here.
Oldham
If you live in Oldham, you’re another one who can recycle your tree just in the same way you would your normal garden waste.
Just chop it up and stick it in your green recycling bin ready for collection as normal.
Tameside
In Tameside, real trees can just be left out with your brown bins ready for recycling – with collections set to take place on January 10.
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The council will also collect your additional recyclable waste (and we’ve all got tonnes of that after Christmas), as long as it’s left out with your black or blue bins in a clear or labelled bag.
Stockport
Stockport is another council that’s happy to take away and recycle your real Christmas tree as they would all your garden waste.
Chop it up to compost in your green bin.
Trafford
Trafford Council will no longer take your tree away if it’s left beside your bin, so you’re going to have to chop it up and stick it in your green bin.
The lid needs to close and all decorations and bases need to be removed (they can go in your grey bin if you don’t want to reuse them next year).
Featured image: Flickr
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Woman slams ‘the Molly-Mae effect’ after huge queues form at farm shop
Daisy Jackson
A woman has demonstrated the power of super-influencer Molly-Mae Hague, revealing that massive queues have been forming at a farm shop she posted about.
The ex-Love Island star turned PLT creative director had shared a series of photos and a YouTube vlog on her massive social media platforms, showing off her visit to The Hollies Farm Shop in Tarporley.
Molly-Mae filmed a video with her sister Zoe and seven-month-old daughter Bambi Fury in the family-run Cheshire farm shop.
In it, she told her 1.8 million YouTube followers: “Honestly, everything in here is just unreal” and added that their homemade sausage rolls were ‘literally my heaven’.
She added: “I cannot begin to explain to you, these are the best cookies I’ve ever eaten, and that’s a big statement because I like my cookies.”
The group then tucked into hot chocolates in the farm shop’s cafe area.
And ever since the 24-year-old’s promo, The Hollies Farm Shop has been rammed, according to one TikTok user.
In a video captioned ‘the reality of the Molly-Mae effect’, TikTok user hollelizabethh3 says: “If you do not believe in the Molly-Mae effect, watch this video.
“Everyone said that we had the communal Molly-Mae jacket, now it’s the communal Molly-Mae places!
“We always come to Hollies Farm Shop, been coming here for years, never ever is there anyone there really.
“She posts it on her Instagram, we’ve just driven to come here, on a Sunday, to get a hot chocolate, and they are queuing out through the doors.
“Pure carnage in the car park, it’s like going to Alton Towers for a day out. You’ll have to buy fast passes soon!
Ice cream van starts trading in the middle of a five-mile queue on M62
Daisy Jackson
An ice cream van seized its opportunity for some extra business over the weekend after getting stuck in a five mile-long queue on the M62.
Rather than idly sitting and waiting for the traffic to start moving on Sunday, the ice cream van threw open its hatch and started serving ice creams to fellow drivers.
Videos shared from the traffic jam – which lasted for several hours and was caused by an accident near J10 – showed people queuing up for a Mr Whippy.
One particular video shows a delighted passenger walking back through the rows of stationary cars on the M62 with two ice creams in her hand.
They wrote: “POV: You’re stuck in a standstill on the M62 but there’s a Mr Whip 10 cars down.”
Another person said in their video: “Accident on motorway, M62 from Liverpool to Oldham. Uh, yeah, standstill traffic since long time and people getting ice creams from the ice cream van.
“He’s selling ice creams here and I thought ‘why not’, I’ll get one as well, first time in my life.”
One person commented: “The syrup on my hands and nowhere to wash them would send me into a sensory hell hole.”
Someone else said: “Ice cream man must’ve been buzzing done some right trade today.”
Another wrote: “I need to know how many other people did this” – the answer to which was: “Oh everyone there was a queue.”
It echoes that time several years ago when a Greggs van that got stuck in traffic started handing out free cakes, pasties and doughnuts to drivers stranded on the A1.