Hospice raises record breaking amount through Christmas Tree Recycling

This year through the Christmas tree collection and recycling service a record breaking amount of £14,110 has been raised for Hospice Isle of Man! The environmentally friendly recycling service had its busiest year to date, with over 780 trees collected, and over 10,100 kg of trees shredded and turned into compost.

Anne Mills, Chief Executive of Hospice Isle of Man, expressed “Thank you once again to everyone that has contributed to making this service a success for 2022. The public have once again got behind their local Hospice and helped ensure that we can continue to deliver our services to our patients for no charge. Our annual Christmas tree collections not only mean a lot to us due to the vital funds that are raised, but they also wholeheartedly support our commitments of the Hospice strategy which is to work in partnership. Our relationships with the Isle of Man Post Office, Tel’s Skips and Ballaneven Compost have grown from strength to strength over the last few years, we are truly grateful to them for their enduring commitment and belief in Hospice Isle of Man.”

All Hospice services are provided totally free of charge to patients and their families, and the money raised from the Christmas Tree Recycling Service enables Hospice to continue their important work in helping the community. This award winning initiative is a fantastic partnership between Hospice, the Isle of Man Post Office, Tel’s Skips and Ballaneven Compost, which has been of huge benefit to the charity. The Isle of Man Post Office plans the collection routes and provides a willing group of volunteers to drive around in Post Office vans to collect the trees. The trees are then taken to Tel’s Ltd where they are put through the shredder. Finally the shredded trees get passed to Ballaneven who turn them into compost, some of which is then used in the beautiful Hospice gardens.

Lewis Crowe, Assistant Delivery Manager & Peel Delivery Office Manager, who coordinates the annual Christmas Tree Collections said: “Although it takes a lot of coordination and commitment from volunteers and our staff, who offer their time for free for this initiative, it is extremely satisfying to be able to support such an amazing charity as Hospice. The continuous support from the public, and raising a significant amount of money, is ample reward for all the hard work. We are very proud to be part of such an inspiring success story, which raises more money and collects more trees year on year.”

Tel’s Skips are also very proud to have been a significant part of the Christmas Tree Recycling Service once again, “All the Staff and Management at Tel’s Ltd would like to congratulate Hospice Isle of Man on their Christmas Tree Recycling Project, along with our Team, Isle of Man Post Office and Ballaneven Compost Ltd staff who gave their free time to help with what has now become an annual event.”

The final key partner to the process; Ballaneven Compost & Horticulture were excited to be involved in the initiative; Dave and Annemarie, owners, said “We took over at Ballaneven last summer and when we heard about the Christmas Tree Recycling Scheme we were delighted to get involved with it. The work that Hospice IOM does is fantastic and we are proud to support them. We will be working hard over the next 12 months turning the trees into 100% Manx compost for our customers”.