Christmas waste donations and collections
The amount of household waste and recycling produced in Wiltshire last Christmas was 19% higher than the rest of the year. You can donate any good quality items like Christmas trees and gifts to charities. This page explains where you can do that in Wiltshire.
Donating your real Christmas tree
For a donation you can sign up to have your real Christmas tree collected by a local charity. You should check to see if the charity collects in your area before registering.
Just Helping (opens new window)
Enter your postcode to register for collections from Salisbury Hospice Charity, Prospect Hospice or Dorothy House.
Julia's House (opens new window)
Collection from postcode areas SN10, SN9 and SN8.
Donating unwanted gifts
Each year, the UK throws away around £42 million of unwanted gifts. You should check if you can donate any unwanted gifts to charities.
Salvation Army: Christmas Present Appeal (opens new window)
The Salvation Army are running a Christmas Present Appeal at their centres across Wiltshire. You can support your local Christmas Present Appeal by donating new, unwrapped toys and gifts for children. The gifts will then be wrapped and given to those in need. You can find your local Salvation Army centre on their website: Salvation Army: Christmas Present Appeal (opens new window).
You can also Donate your items to a Household Recycling Centre. HRCs accept furniture, bric-a-brac, bicycles, books and textiles. To find your local HRC see HRC locations and opening times.
Recycling your Christmas waste
Before disposing, you should always check your Waste collection calendar (opens new window) and if your waste can be recycled.
| Material | Can it be recycled? | More information |
| Fake Christmas trees | No | Dispose of in your household waste bin, or at a Household Recycling Centre. |
| Wrapping paper | Maybe. Check the more information column | Only wrapping paper made of paper and free from glitter can be recycled. Laminated or foil paper cannot be accepted. To find out if your wrapping paper is free from foil you should scrunch the paper and if it stays in a ball, it can be recycled in your blue-lidded recycling bin. |
| Christmas cards | Maybe. Check the more information column | Cards free of glitter and their envelopes can be recycled in your blue-lidded recycling bin. |
| Plastic bags and polystyrene packaging | No | You should dispose of plastic bags and polystyrene packaging in your household waste bin. |
| Batteries | Yes | Crews can collect most small batteries. You must put batteries in a small clear sandwich bag on the top of your blue-lidded recycling bin. See Battery and small electricals collections for more information. Any batteries not accepted at the kerbside can be recycled at a Household Recycling Centre. |
| Small electricals | Yes | Some small electricals can be recycled on top of your blue-lidded recycling bin inside a bag, including Christmas fairy lights. See Battery and small electricals collections for more information. |
Recycling your real Christmas tree
If you have signed up for the chargeable garden waste service, you can leave your real Christmas tree next to your garden waste bin. The council will collect it for composting on your first scheduled collection in January.
You can take your real Christmas tree to any of the Household Recycling Centre for free.
For safety reasons trees over 5ft should be cut into pieces and placed in the garden waste container or the crew may not be able to collect.
Recycling and donating larger items
Bulky items that are in a usable condition such as fake Christmas trees, white goods and furniture can be collected from your doorstep for reuse with the help of local charities. You can also arrange a collection from Wiltshire Council for a fee. See Large item reuse and collection for more details.
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