AS the pine needles fall off the tree, the beer cans pile up and the cards come off the mantelpiece it is obvious that Christmas is over.

But rather than dumping the festive rubbish in the bin, families around the region are being urged to have a green New Year and recycle their Christmas waste.

From Christmas cards to wine bottles everything that made the celebrations fun can be put to a new use.

It is estimated that a billion cards, six million trees, 4,200 tonnes of silver foil, 125,000 tonnes of plastic and 83sq km of wrapping paper are used each year in the UK - and most of this is thrown away.

Recycling not only helps the environment but also helps create new products at minimum cost.

While food scraps can be made into compost at home, most recycling has to take place at a designated site.

Kevin Ownes, North-East products manager at Premier Waste Management, said: "County Durham residents can give a belated Christmas present to the environment by taking their unwanted tree to the civic amenity site nearest their home."

Premier Waste will turn trees left in designated skips into compost and mulch which can be used to repair rural footpaths.

Schools and shops across the region are collecting Christmas cards to recycle and raise money for charity.

For every tonne of cards collected, donations will be given to good causes including The Tees Forest and The Woodland Trust.

Cans, glass and paper left at tips and in specially-marked skips at some supermarket car parks will be taken away to be made into new containers.

Even mobile phones are part of the recycling initiative. For every phone handed into Tesco stores in the region, £5 will be given to charity and working parts will be reused by the phone companies.

Unwanted Christmas presents can be donated to charity shops where they will find a new home and raise money at the same time.

Councillor Stephen Harker, of Darlington Borough Council, said: "If everyone made just one visit to a recycling centre or recycle their Christmas cards or tree, we could be proud to say we were doing our bit for the environment."