After Christmas

Our Christmas trees are properly heated up

In Innsbruck, around 12,000 Christmas trees are collected by IKB every year.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof/Krone KREATIV)

Using Innsbruck as an example, the "Tiroler Krone" explains what happens to the fir trees after the festive season. Every year, around 70 tons are collected in the provincial capital.

"Oh fir tree, oh fir tree, how green your leaves are! ..." Many Tyroleans sang this song in front of the Christmas tree on December 24. In the meantime, the leaves - actually they are needles - have withered. And the tree is no longer in the living room, but lying on the street waiting to be picked up or has already been picked up.

But what actually happens to the Christmas trees in the country? The "Tiroler Krone" asked the Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe AG (IKB).

We collect the trees and take them to the composting plant in Rossau. There they are shredded and thermally recycled.

Markus Fracaro, Leiter der Abfallsammlung bei der IKB

Collection takes place every year from January 7 to 17
"We collect the trees and take them to the composting plant in Rossau," explains Markus Fracaro, head of waste collection at IKB. They are then shredded and sent for thermal recycling. "They are fed back to Innsbruck households as heat." 

The collection takes place at the same time every year - from January 7 to 17. "These periods are announced in information letters and on our website."

"The collection points for Christmas trees are normally the known bulky waste drop-off points at the respective properties," says Fracaro.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Anyone who can only part with their Christmas tree at a later date cannot expect it to be taken away. "After the deadline, it will no longer be collected via the street collection, but every citizen has the opportunity to hand in their Christmas tree free of charge at the Innsbruck recycling center," explains Fracaro.

Around 70 tons or around 12,000 Christmas trees
The head of the waste collection department can also come up with two impressive figures. "We collect around 12,000 Christmas trees every year, which equates to around 70 tons." It's impossible to say how many truckloads that is, "as they drive across Innsbruck several times a day during the collection period".

The Christmas trees are returned to households as heat.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Regarding the correct disposal of the Christmas trees, Fracaro explains that "the collection points are normally the known bulky waste drop-off points at the respective properties. Unfortunately, it is now common practice to simply dump the trees somewhere. In some cases, disabled parking spaces and sidewalks are also recklessly blocked". Of course, the tree should also be free of any decorations.