Christmas trees shredding upon holidays ending

Regional Association of Solid Waste Management Agencies of Central Macedonia in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy implemented a pilot action with the slogan "No Christmas tree in landfill". Its scope was the conversion of Christmas trees into wood chips, as it is a secondary raw material for pellets, biofuels and chipboards manufacturing as well as a potentially added material in organic waste composting process. To support this initiative, once the pilot action announcement was published the operators of the landfill banned the disposal of Christmas trees on-site.
Citizens’ were called to transport their trees in 6 identified municipal disposal points. In case this was not possible (due to own means unavailability), they could notify the authority to collect them from municipal bins location through customized collection routes. Regular waste collection routes notified the appointed Christmas trees collection staff in case they noticed disposed trees in municipal bins.
Responsible personnel was also appointed by the municipality to remove the trees' wooden or other bases, since metal nails could damage the shredding equipment. The shredding was undertaken by the municipal authorities in cooperation with Regional Association of Solid Waste Management Agencies of Central Macedonia and appropriate private sector contractors and was conducted in 3 individual days (start, middle, end of January 2019).