Prague Christmas trees to become furniture in social facilities

The dismantling of Christmas decorations has already started

With the end of Christmas and New Year’s holidays, local authorities are faced with a long and complicated process of dismantling decorations and restoring cities to their previous look. One of the important problems facing each environmentally conscious city is how to proceed with the Christmas trees, that become redundant after just a few weeks of “service”.

Luckily, some cities like Prague, have come up with ingenious ways to recycle them: this year, the Czech capital will use the woods of its Christmas trees to make furniture for social facilities.

Extending the life of a Christmas tree

Already last week the employees of the City of Prague began to dismantle the Christmas tree on the Old Town Square. In addition, eleven hundred Christmas decorations in the form of public lighting and thirty Christmas trees will disappear from the streets of Prague over the next few days. The 17.5 spruce, however, is set to take on a different journey.

To demonstrate its concern for greenery, ecology and sustainability, the city authorities decided that the tree which decorated the Old Town Square during the Christmas period, will not end up in a landfill or incinerator, as in previous years, but will be used to the last piece – a decision, that is set to last for years to come.

Vít Šimral. Councillor for Education explained that "It would certainly be a great pity not to use such a mature tree, which served as a symbol of Christmas in the Old Town Square. Therefore, we started communicating about its use with director Janeček before the holidays and it was agreed that the provided wood can be processed for the Home for the Elderly in Malešice, which is located near the Jarov Secondary Vocational School and is also an organization of the capital. I am very happy about that because the issue of ecology is crucial for us."

For his part, the director of the Jarov Secondary Vocational School, Miloslav Janeček, explained that they will cut it into planks and then dry them at school. Subsequently, their carpenters will make furniture out of it - wardrobes, tables or garden benches are all under consideration.