Recycle your Christmas tree with Hospiscare to benefit local end-of-life care and the environment

Let Hospiscare help with your post-festive clean up this Christmas - by collecting and recycling your Christmas tree from your doorstep.

Residents in Exeter, Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Honiton, Sidmouth and Ottery St Mary can register now to have their tree collected by a team of volunteers, who’ll be out in force across the area, from Thursday 8 January to Saturday 10 January 2026.

You can join the initiative now – and tick one more thing off your festive ‘to do’ list - by registering on the hospice’s website, and donating to the local charity, with a suggested donation of £20 per tree.

By joining in the recycling scheme, not only will you be helping Hospiscare to provide free palliative and end-of-life care for the community across Exeter, central and east Devon, you’ll also be doing your bit for the environment.

The collected Christmas trees will be recycled by Coastal Recycling and University of Exeter, who’ll reuse the chippings across their campus.

Recycling your tree with Hospiscare will also reduce harmful emissions – last year, volunteers collected 2,200 trees, and recycling these resulted in a 36,240kg CO2 emission saving.

Laura Robertson, Hospiscare’s Public Fundraising Manager, said:

“Last year, a merry band of 114 volunteers in 63 vans collected and recycled trees across Exeter, central and east Devon over the three days – raising a record-breaking £46,000.

“Choosing to recycle your Christmas tree with Hospiscare benefits everyone involved. For our supporters, it’s one less thing to think about after a busy Christmas; for our patients, it raises funds to support them and their families; and for the environment, it reduces emissions.”

Registering your tree will help make a real difference to local patients and their families. Hospiscare cares for more than 2,200 people every year across over 1,028 square miles of Devon’s heartland, and relies upon the generosity of the community to fund 85 per cent of its specialist services.

Hospiscare works in partnership with Just Helping’s national Christmas tree collection service, to manage the routes and registrations for the Christmas tree recycling scheme.

Recycling volunteers will collect trees in the following postcode areas: EX1, EX2, EX3, EX4, EX5 1, EX5 2, EX5 3, EX5 4, EX5 5, EX5 7, EX6 7, EX6 8, EX8, EX9 6, EX9 7, EX10, EX11 1, EX14 1, EX14 2, EX14 3.

Trees will need to be left in a clear, unobstructed and visible location by 8am on the first day of collections (January 8). Volunteers cannot guarantee which day or time your tree will be collected.

Please remove all decorations, pots, and bases, and provide extra directions on the registration form if your property is hard to locate or has restricted access. Volunteers are unable to enter properties or any confined or restricted space to access trees.

To register a tree for collection, please visit www.hospiscare.co.uk/christmas-tree.

And if you’d like to get involved and volunteer with the collection, in any way, please contact treecollection@hospiscare.co.uk.