BASILDON residents are being reminded to recycle their real Christmas trees for free alongside their normal food and garden waste collections.

Trees can be left out for collection alongside green bins on revised collection days.

They will then be given a ‘second life’... as compost.

All decorations, as well as any pots or stands, should be removed.

Tree trunks bigger than four inches in diameter will not be accepted for collection, but can be disposed of at Barleylands Recycling Centre.

For more information about revised collection dates and recycling centres, visit the Basildon Council website at www.basildon.gov.uk/