How to dispose of your Christmas Tree

Post Christmas and New Year, lots of people consider what to do with their old Christmas Tree, whether to recycle it, burn it on the fire, make pine needle tea or compost it. Of all the available ideas - burning a Christmas Tree on an open fire or wood burning stove is a dangerous one!

Don't burn your Christmas Tree!

Christmas Tree's are still green wood. That means it is the same as unseasoned logs and is dangerous if you burn it on an open fire or on a wood burning stove without any other fuel to burn the fuel at a higher temperature.

Green wood contains a lot of moisture and chemicals too in the form of sap.  When these materials burn together they produce "condensates" - a soft chemical substance that will line the inside of your chimney. Condensates build up and they become flammable too! The sticky coating builds up in your chimney over time and ignites causing chimney fires.

The right type of fire!

A good fire is a hot fire. The hotter a fire is, the less moisture it creates and more of the smoke and chemicals in the logs or firewood gets burnt at a high temperature and this in turn reduces the build up of condensates in your chimney.

We recommend that you use Kiln Dried Logs for an open fire, multi-fuel stove or wood burning stove - as these logs are ultra dry and create the most heat.  If you wish to recycle your Christmas Tree and you don't take up any recycling initiatives by the local council or eco group, then strip off the pine needles and cut the trunk into small logs and store these for around 12 months so that they are the same moisture content or drier than seasoned logs . 

If you are tempted to burn them without first seasoning them, you will undoubtedly create condensates in your chimney and as most firemen will tell you, burning wet logs and wood is the quickest method of starting a chimney fire. A log store is ideal for seasoning green / wet wood.

What to aim for

If you have an open fire or a wood burning appliance that allows you to burn wood and other solid fuels like ecoal, Homefire etc. then always make use of these other solid fuels so that you burn the hottest fire possible. Logs are best burnt in a hot fire. So it is a good idea to first get the temperature of the fire as high as possible before adding logs and do not try and slumber a fire overnight using logs as you won't have enough heat to burn off the chemicals.

If you have a very hot fire you will reduce the buildup of condensates and reduce emissions too - a very simple way to check is to take a step outside (perhaps when you are emptying the ash pan) and see if you can see smoke coming out of the chimney - if you can, then your fire is not hot enough and it is not burning all of the combustibles. To remedy this, simply add some firewood / kindling to the fire. 

Read our useful Real Wood Guide or our article on creating a perfect log fire.