IF your Christmas tree is still lying in the back garden and you haven't thrown out all your Christmas cards yet, now's the time to think about recycling, says Worcestershire County Council.

People can recycle their Christmas trees by taking them to the green waste skip at any of the county's household waste sites, or a number of temporary drop-off points including Homebase stores and garden centres.

Once collected, the trees are taken to a large scale composting facility, shredded and mixed with other green waste. The resulting soil conditioner is available to buy at the county's household waste sites.

Christmas cards could be used again next year as gift tags or be recycled at paper banks or through kerbside collection schemes.

Jane Orme, waste challenge manager at the county council, said: "The new year can be seen as a new start for people to get into the recycling habit. Residents can kick start the year by recycling their Christmas paraphernalia such as cards and trees.

"It is important that people carry on this good work by adopting more ways to dispose of waste. Composting food and garden waste and recycling materials such as glass, plastic, paper, textiles and cans are great ways to minimise the waste going to the landfill."

People can get further details of recycling facilities in their area by visitingwww.wastemission impossible.org.uk