Christmas tree recycling: from goat feed to bobcat shelters
Colleen Jones | CBC News | Posted: January 4, 2016 10:00 PM | Last Updated: January 4, 2016
Who says your only option is to leave them at the curb?
Christmas tree pick up began in parts of the Halifax Regional Municipality Monday and city hall estimates about 400 tonnes will be picked up over the next two weeks for recycling.
But some people are finding creative ways to repurpose their Christmas trees. Here are some of the ideas.
Goat farms
You can drop it off at a goat farm so the animals can munch on it. For instance, Sweetwood Farm in Blockhouse, Lunenburg County, is taking tree donations Saturday at their goat farm.
Over at Island Hill Farm on Prince Edward Island, the goats are typically grateful for the winter snack, according to owner Flory Sanderson.
"It mixes up their diet, it acts like a natural dewormer and they'll actually clean it down right to the bark, it's pretty awesome," said Sanderson. "We find it makes the barn smell absolutely fantastic."
Wildlife Shelters
In Seaforth, Hope for Wildlife had hundreds of trees dropped off this year.
Volunteers at the wildlife refuge were putting some trees in porcupine pens on Monday because porcupines love to eat them.
Bobcats are also fans of old Christmas trees. They use them for shelter.
Shoreline
Forrest Higgins, president of the Christmas Tree Council of Nova Scotia, says some people put their old trees on the shoreline to prevent erosion.
Lawns
Another option is to chip and mulch the trees, and put them around your property and on flower beds.
Higgins says other people just put them on their porch or front lawn.