Helsinki to recycle Christmas trees for free

The Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY) will collect discarded Christmas trees free of cost and recycle soon.

On an average, about 55,000 trees in the capital region turn into wood chips every year and the waste management and water services company HSY will recycle the trees, said a City of Helsinki press release.

HSY will retrieve trees left in a clearly visible spot near the waste containers at residential properties, schools and day-care centres.

The service will be available in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and the City of Kirkkonummi throughout the months of January and February. The company advises residents to leave the trees outside shared waste container shelters, as the discarded trees should not interfere with the normal use of the facility.

Most of the trees collected are sent to the Ämmässuo bio-waste treatment plant in Espoo for chipping, after which the material is utilised in bio-waste composting.

For properties that lack the bio-waste collection service, HSY’s waste management workers will collect the discarded trees as part of their normal mixed waste pickup and transport them to a combustion plant, where they are used to produce district heat and electricity.

It is also possible through the month of January to drop off individual trees at one of the five Sortti stations in the Helsinki metropolitan area free of cost.

Artificial trees should be disposed off in mixed waste rubbish bins. Sortti stations charge a small fee for the processing of discarded artificial trees.