What should I do with hawthorn

Today I have cut down quite a bit of hawthorn and now wondering what I should do with it, should I cut it down a bit more and put it into a recycling bin, doing that it will take about 6 weeks to get rid of it as it is only collected every 2 weeks, should I  put it through a shredder and compost it or use as mulch or should I burn it and use the ash in the garden

Personally I’d shred it and compost or mulch.

I wonder if hot composting breaks down the thorns, which of course is one of the problems of putting it in the compost heap

I usually leave hawthorn to grow - as food for the bees and berries for the birds.
Its too painful to handle unnecessarily. Otherwise I burn it as the thorns as so sharp they've punctured wheelbarrow tyres and penetrated the soles of my shoes. I don[t leave it lying around the garden in case the dogs step on it.

I agree if you have to cut it I would burn it if you can’t properly shred it and still not have thorns.

I usually leave hawthorn to grow - as food for the bees and berries for the birds.

So do I but what I cut down was overhanging the patio and becoming a bit of a risk of hitting someone in the face, the hedge along the back contains hawthorn along Ash, birch, elder and cherry

Torch the sucker! Hawthorn is a dense hard wood and thicker stems burn hot in a woodburner.