Burn my Christmas Tree in the garden

Can I burn my Christmas Tree in a Garden Incinerator or Waste Bin?

It is possible, with a bit of planning and due regard, to safely burn your natural christmas tree in a garden waste bin or incinerator. The question should probably be “should I burn my Christmas tree?”

Firstly let me point out that burning a christmas tree in your house (open fire, stove, wood burner or multi fuel) can be dangerous and is not recommended by most organisations.

“Christmas” trees are more often than not a pine, spruce or fir. The needles can be very dry (with high resin content) and flash burn, leading to an extremely volatile fire.

Conversely, your tree has only been cut down for only around 2 months, and you have likely been watering whilst it's been in the house. This means the moisture content can be surprisingly high and render the wood not suitable for burning. Utilising wet wood can lead to the increased deposition of creosote or tar on the inside of your chimney which in turn leads to an increased likelihood of a chimney fire. Even when well seasoned these species of wood contain higher levels of volatiles so do be sure, if you are going down this route, they are dry and used sparingly.

Our overall advice though is not to burn them in the garden but find an alternative use and make the festive season even greener:

• Recycle them using your green (or brown?) kerbside collection from your local authority.
• You local authority might even run a dedicated collection after christmas
• Mulch them and use it in the garden borders
• Donate to a local wildlife center who might need them- apparently lions love them!
• Create a wildlife/garden bug or beastie hotel
• If its pot grown then either plant it out or find a slightly bigger tub to let it grow ready for next year
• Create bird feeding station out of the trunk
• The list is as long as your creativity.

Garden waste bins are suitable for lots of tasks but this is one we suggest an alternative approach is best.