Free and creative ways to give your Christmas tree a second life – Montreal | Globalnews.ca

As the holiday season comes to an end, those who bought real Christmas trees are starting to think about what they’ll do to get rid of it.

Ever since she was a little girl, Delcie Cabral has always loved her Christmas tree.

“I don’t even know why but I’m supposed to wait until Jan. 6 because my mother would kill me if I didn’t. If I even took off a ball off the tree before then it was God help me,” said Delcie Cabral, who owns a real Christmas tree.

There are many ways to recycle your real Christmas tree as the holiday season comes to an end.

“When I was small, my father would do that, he would plant it outside in the snow, with lights for I don’t know, a month,” she said.

Some trees will get a second life and be used for woodchip, decorations, hand creams and essential oils, so Cabral’s dad was onto something.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada says instead of tossing your tree, you should put it outside.

“We’re encouraging people to toss their trees in their backyard if they have one, because that offers really vital protected habitat for small birds that might be over in your neighbourhood,” said Jensen Edwards, national media relations manager for Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Another option is to turn your tree into hand creams and essential oils as mentioned above.

Starting next week, Arbressence will pick up your tree for free, as they take appointments online and provide you with a gift of their in-house essential oil in exchange.

“We provide a sample to every house we visit, so it’s the same kind of gift we give to the people as they give to us,” said Jonathan Duguay, Arbressence’s director of sales and communications.

Also, starting next week, the city of Montreal will begin their tree collection program. Some of the trees collected will be used for woodchips, while other lucky ones will be used to decorate the ice rinks in Montreal.

“Normally during the three first weeks of January, the city will pick up as many as 25,000 Christmas trees,” said Philippe Sabourin, Montreal city administrator.

Sabourin encourages the people of Montreal to check their boroughs’ websites for their pickup schedules.

As for Cabral, she says she will keep enjoying her tree a little while longer.

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