When the holidays wind down, it is soon time to take down the real Christmas tree that has graced your home for the festive season.

Instead of putting it out in the trash, you have many options for reusing and recycling the tree in environmentally-friendly ways.

Before recycling your real tree, be sure to remove all the decorations, tinsel and any paint or glitter.

There are many ways of recycling a real Christmas tree at home.

Songbird Shelter: Prop the tree up in a corner of the yard to provide welcome shelter for songbirds from cold and predators.

Winter Insulation: Cut off boughs to use as winter insulation for perennial plants.

Lay the boughs gently over perennials to protect their crowns (the base where stems emerge from the ground) from fluctuating winter temperatures and cold drying winds, especially if there is no snow cover.

Firewood: The trunk of the tree can be cut into logs for firewood, and you can use smaller branches as kindling.

Because of the resin content, Christmas tree wood is best burned outdoors, such as a fire pit or on a bonfire, and dried for a few months before being cut and burned.

Mulch: The entire tree, or the parts you are not using elsewhere, can be shredded to use as mulch, either on garden beds or on paths in the garden.

Compost: The whole tree, or parts you have not used in other ways, can be composted, returning nutrients and organic matter to the soil over time.

You can cut it up into small pieces to add to an existing compost pile, which seems very labor intensive; or you can create a brush pile in an out-of-the-way garden corner, where the remains of your tree can provide habitat for birds, insects, and other small creatures as it slowly decays.

Fishponds: If you have a large pond, your old Christmas tree can be sunk into the pond to improve habitat for fish.

The base of the tree can be tied to a block or stone and tossed into the water.

The tree provides a surface on which water plants can grow, as well as a hiding place for small fish and a hunting ground for larger fish.

Community Options: Even if you do not have a way to re-purpose your real old Christmas tree at home, there are still community options available for recycling.

Many local townships and boroughs, and some non-profit organizations, will pick up trees at curbside, or offer drop-off collection sites, after which your tree will be recycled into mulch and compost for future use by community residents.

You can feel good about your real Christmas tree, knowing that it will not be wasted after the holidays.

As all trees do, in life and after death, they can provide habitat and sustenance to many other organisms as part of nature’s recycling system.

“Growing Green” is contributed by Diane Dorn, Lehigh County Extension Office Staff, and Master Gardeners. Information: Lehigh County Extension Office, 610-391-9840; Northampton County Extension Office, 610-813-6613