ALL MY REAL TREE PEOPLE OUT THERE THIS ONES FOR YOU!!!

Once the holidays are over, it’s time to take the real tree out of the house before it turns into a fire hazard. While most have recycling programs in place if you are looking for an alternative fear not! There are other ways to use your tree after Dec. 25 that will give it a second life and also be good for the environment, says Dan Kraus, senior conservation biologist at the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“We’ve come a long way from the old days when most trees ended up in a landfill, and the municipalities do a great job of recycling your trees. But there is another way you can get rid of it,” Kraus said, adding this is especially helpful if you miss tree pickup day.

If you have a backyard, trim off the branches and place them on the ground where they will decompose into soil, leaving the trunk to provide a habitat for the woodland creatures. If not, you can simply leave the tree in a nearby forest and the same process will happen to the tree, says Marie-Paule Godin, operations manager at Tree Canada. You can also hit up Pinterest for some home decor idea that you can create using the tree!

Whenever you get around to taking all your decorations down, don’t forget all the cool ways you can consider the environment and re-purpose your pretty tree.

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