Christmas trees are still spreading cheer across the Dacorum borough weeks after the festive season ended.
The trees are providing an eco-friendly way to fight weeds in gardens across the region, thanks to a successful recycling scheme.
Hundreds of residents took their real Christmas trees to be shredded and recycled this year after an appeal by Dacorum Borough Council.
A staggering 1,750 trees were taken along to tree chipping events at Hemel Hempstead’s Cupid Green Depot, Berkhamsted’s Water Lane car park and Tring Garden Centre.
The trees were shredded and then the chippings were given back to residents to scatter on the ground as a natural weed preventative.
Dacorum Borough Council’s shredding team was given a helping hand in the project by members of 1st Berkhamsted Scouts and 1st Tring Scouts groups, who collected trees from residents’ homes and took them to the shredding sites.
One resident who was happy with the recycling scheme was Katie, 10, whose family took their old tree to the Berkhampsted site.
Katie said: “We come every year and it’s fantastic to see the tree being shredded and it being reused again.”
Cllr Julie Laws, Dacorum Borough Council’s portfolio holder for environment and sustainability, said: “It is great to see the spirit of the community continuing into the new year with the combined efforts of the scouts and the council recycling vast numbers of trees.
“Thank you to everyone that made the effort to recycle their Christmas trees this year and remember you can still recycle your real Christmas tree at any of the county council’s household waste recycling centres.”