How to recycle your trees, cards and other Christmas waste
Remember to check the changes to bin collections over the Christmas and New Year period.
Please remember that garden waste collections will be suspended at the end of the day on Friday 20 December 2024. Collections will restart from Monday 20 January 2025.
Recycling centre prolonged closure
Our household recycling centre with be closed for an extended period from 10 January 2025. The closure will allow us to carry out a review of Cheltenham’s waste and recycling service. The review has been prompted by changing legislation and enhanced kerbside collection services. Find out more about the closure.
Christmas tree recycling
Christmas tree drop off points
With the climate emergency now a priority for the council, we want to make sure all our Christmas trees are composted locally, so we encourage you to take your Christmas tree to one of the following drop off points:
- Swindon Road Recycling Centre - anytime during opening hours
- From 2 to 15 January 2025, locations around Cheltenham where trees will be collected and recycled:
- Cheltenham Racecourse - New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, GL52 3LT
- Cheltenham Town Football Club - Whaddon Road, Cheltenham, GL52 5NA
- Old Patesians RFC - Everest Road, Cheltenham, GL53 9LG
- Cheltenham B&Q - Golden valley retail park, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6TA
Please note: Christmas tree drop off points will have a designated area marked off with cones and a sign. Please only use these areas to deposit your Christmas trees.
Christmas trees should be free of lights, decorations, pots or stands and trees up to five feet or one and a half metres tall can be left out whole. Trees larger than this need to be cut down before being put out for collection.
Christmas tree kerbside recycling
Real Christmas tree collections - Garden waste customers
If you are a garden waste customer, you can recycle your real Christmas tree at the kerbside once collections resume from Monday 20 January 2025.
Simply place your real Christmas tree next to your brown garden waste bin at the kerbside on your normal collection day and the crews will be able to take it away to be recycled.
Real Christmas tree collections - Non-garden waste customers
If you are not a garden waste customer, you can dispose of your real Christmas tree at the kerbside from Monday 20 January 2025.
Please check to see when garden waste is collected on your road and place your real Christmas tree out on the kerbside on the day that there is a garden waste collection in your road and your real Christmas tree will be recycled.
If your road does not receive a garden waste collection, please put your real Christmas tree out at the kerbside next to your green refuse bin on your next refuse collection, from Monday 20 January 2025. The crews will be able to collect the tree and it will sent to Javelin Park.
Please note: Christmas trees should be free of lights, decorations, pots or stands and trees up to five feet or one and a half metres tall can be left out whole. Trees larger than this need to be cut down before being put out for collection.
Alternatively, you can recycle your real Christmas tree at the Swindon Road household recycling centre or at one of the four Christmas tree drop off locations around the borough.
Recycling
At Christmas there is more to recycle than any other time of the year, please try to recycle as much as possible.
With materials such as mixed plastics, textiles, shoes, batteries and small electrical items accepted at the kerbside, it's easy to recycle in Cheltenham.
This Christmas, please remember to separate your recycling by using your kerbside recycling boxes and blue cardboard bags. Pre-sorting your recycling will ensure it remains good quality and helps to speed up collections reducing delays for other road users.
Excess recycling can be taken to one of the bring bank sites located around the town or alternatively, the Swindon Road recycling centre.
Ask the waste wizard where to repair, recycle, donate or dispose of your items
Christmas lights
Please put Christmas lights in a tied carrier bag and then place them in one of your recycling boxes for collection. You can also take Christmas lights to the Swindon Road recycling centre.
Christmas cards
Provided they do not contain foil or glitter decoration, these can be put into your blue cardboard bag, recycled at the cardboard banks at bring sites around the town or taken to the Swindon Road recycling centre. Remember you can remove the foil and glitter section of the Christmas card and recycle the rest of the card.
Wrapping paper
Wrapping paper which does not contain foil can be put into your kerbside recycling boxes for recycling. However wrapping paper made from foil cannot be placed in to the kerbside recycling box as unfortunately they cannot be recycled.
Tip: If your wrapping paper can be scrunched and stays scrunched up it doesn't contain foil, foil wrapping paper springs back when scrunched.
Cardboard gift boxes and packaging should be flattened and placed in your blue cardboard bag.
Coffee pods
Coffee pods can now be collected at the kerbside, so if you have a coffee machine or are lucky enough to get one this Christmas then please recycle your pods as part of your kerbside collection. More about the scheme can be found by going to our Podback coffee pod recycling page.
Food waste
If you do find yourself with food leftovers, please remember to either home compost it or pop it in your food waste caddy along with vegetable peelings and any other cooked or uncooked food. Carrier bags can be re-used to line food waste caddies. If you have more food waste than normal, you can put both your small and large caddies out for collection.
Plastic bags, films and wrappings
Plastic bags, films and wrappings can be taken to some supermarkets for recycling. Check out your supermarket to see what you can recycle there. If you are part of the kerbside trial, please remember to put all plastic bags, films and wrappings in your bag and present at kerbside with the rest of your recycling.
More information on reducing waste
Visit the Gloucestershire Recycles website.
Waste Wizard
Use our waste wizard search tool to find out what to do with an item.
Ask the waste wizard where to repair, recycle, donate or dispose of your items