Christmas tree kerb collections

Christmas trees will be lifted in the second week of January

Edinburgh householders are being urged to take advantage of a new kerbside Christmas tree collection service.

Edinburgh Council hopes to make recycling Christmas trees as easy as possible.

Trees put out beside bins on the normal rubbish collection day in the week 8-12 January will be lifted by refuse collectors.

The trees will be collected by a separate vehicle and recycled into compost. Trees over 6ft are to be cut.

Alternatively Christmas trees can be taken to community recycling centres at Braehead, Craigs Rd Craigmillar, Old Dalkeith Rd Seafield and Fillyside Rd between 1000 and 1600 GMT.

Refuse collections are still operating one day later than scheduled and will do up until the week ending 7 January.

National recycling target

Edinburgh Council achieved above the national recycling target for 2006 and aims to achieve a rate of 30% for 2008.

Councillor Robert Cairns, Edinburgh Council's environment and streetscape leader, said: "We are constantly looking at new measures to encourage people in Edinburgh to recycle.

"The introduction of this kerbside collection service will make it easier for the public to recycle trees which would otherwise go to landfill.

"We see this particular initiative as a positive step at the start of a new year which will hopefully see recycling rates in Edinburgh continue to rise, as more of the public go green in 2007."