Shred festive tree and help special baby unit

HINCHINGBROOKE S Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) will benefit from people recycling their Christmas trees at a special shredding day this Saturday, January 6. People can shred their Christmas tree for free at the Xtreme Recycling Event at Hinchingbrooke Co

HINCHINGBROOKE'S Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) will benefit from people

recycling their Christmas trees at a special shredding day this Saturday, January 6.

People can shred their Christmas tree for free at the Xtreme Recycling Event at Hinchingbrooke Country Park, but charitable donations of £1 or more for the SCBU will help meet the £600 cost of a breathing monitor for the baby unit.

Gavin Fraser, a tree surgeon at the park who is helping to run the event, said: "My son Ben received exemplary care from the SCUB team which saved his life and this is my way of giving something back and helping the environment."

About 50,000 real Christmas trees were bought in Cambridgshire this season. If lined up, they would cover the distance between Cambridge and London.

This event will save some of these trees from ending up at landfill sites. Instead, they will be shredded and the chipping returned to the owner to take home for composting. Or, alternatively, the park will use them.

SCBU's Jeanette Kennerley said: "This is a fantastic event that will raise much needed funds enabling us to purchase more equipment to help provide the specialised care and support needed by the 250 sick or premature babies admitted to our unit every year."

INFORMATION: People can take their Christmas trees to Hinchingbrooke Country Park between 10.30am and 2.30pm for Mr Fraser - who owns East Anglia Tree Care - to shred into chippings. People will also be able to take their chippings home and compost them. Any left over will be used at the park. Advice on waste prevention, reuse and recycling is available at www.recap.co.uk