Overview
- Hamburg begins street collections on January 5 with one pickup in each district during the second and third January weeks, accepts early drop-offs at 12 recycling yards, requires trees under 2.5 meters with all stands and tinsel removed, and shreds collected trees for biomass fuel.
- Frankfurt’s FES offers three options: cut trees to one-meter pieces for home bins, direct drop-off at RMB Rhein-Main Biokompost, or a free district-by-district curbside pickup running January 7–27 that requires fully undecorated trees placed accessibly at property edges.
- Dresden takes trees free of charge at all city recycling centers from December 27 to January 31, operates 100-plus neighborhood collection points from December 29 to January 10 with special intake on January 10, turns trees into wood chips for fuel, and charges a small fee from February 1.
- Leipzig provides 160 free drop sites between December 27 and January 31 and reminds residents to remove lights and tinsel, with illegal dumping treated as an administrative offense that can draw fines typically ranging from 25 to 50 euros.
- Essen’s waste service collects by neighborhood from January 12 to 23, asks residents to place trees visible at the curb without plastic bags, requests large trees be cut into pieces up to two meters with limited trunk diameter, and runs an information hotline from January 2 to 30.