Recycle Your Christmas Tree

Make sure that beautiful holiday tree meets an organic end, plan ahead and recycle your tree.

Many communities offer curbside pick up of trees, others have drop off locations or wood chipping services. But most communities only collect trees during a specific time period. If you miss it, your tree will wind up in a landfill where even the most natural trash is unlikely to decompose. Figure out now where and when to recycle your tree.

Check with your city or local sanitation department, or look online on Earth911. If you have a backyard, your tree's branches make an excellent protective mulch in your garden. Pine needles can be tossed under outdoor plants, particularly young trees or shrubs that prefer acidic soil.

Remove all ornaments and tinsel from your tree and don't put your tree in a plastic bag, just haul it out in it's natural state. If you want to avoid a shower of pine needles inside, wrap it in a sheet to carry it outside.

What might happen to your tree? Christmas trees are often used as mulch for water conservation and weed control, along hiking paths, sunk in lakes as habitat for fish or even turned into fuel at biomass plants.

simple steps

Find out where and when to recycle your Christmas tree, check with your city or sanitation department or look it up on Earth911 .
Recycle or compost your Christmas tree in your own backyard. Toss pine needles under outdoor plants and use the branches to winterize your garden.
Start a Christmas tree recycling program in your community.

Users' Comments

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By: Mulchfest! () on 31-12-2007 10:33

By: Mulchfest! on 31-12-2007 10:33

In New York City, the sanitation department will pick up and recycle trees from January 3 to 16. Mulchfest, where you can have your tree chipped at local parks and gardens and then take home a bag of mulch, is January 5 and 6. Check the NYC Parks site for more info: http://www.nycgovparks.org/ services/mulchfest/ mulchfest.html

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By: MARY ANN () on 20-01-2008 09:42

By: MARY ANN on 20-01-2008 09:42

EASIER CHRISTMAS TREE REMOVAL = LOP OFF ALL BRANCHES (SAVING NEEDLES FOR AROMATIC STUFFING), THEN JUST TAKE OUT THE TRUNK, MUCH LIKE REMOVING A BROOM!

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By: HME () on 28-01-2008 12:36

By: HME on 28-01-2008 12:36

Better idea still, and what I did this past year---use a live, potted Norfolk Pine for your tree, produces oxygen in your home and no need to recycle it after the holidays, just take the ornaments off and put them away for next year!

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By: Carole () on 07-01-2009 13:02

By: Carole on 07-01-2009 13:02

In Eastern North Carolina, near Marine Corps bases, they pick up the trees and take them out to the Outer Banks and build up the sand dunes. Check with Camp Lejune or Cherry Point, or even a neighbor who is a Marine, for information.

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By: Elizabeth () on 07-01-2009 19:44

By: Elizabeth on 07-01-2009 19:44

If you have a garden, lop off all the branches to use as protective mulch during the winter. It protects perennials without suffocating them. Then in the spring, pile what is left in an out of the way corner until the needles fall off (great smell in summer!) and decompose. I use the trunk as an edging to my beds. By the way, it is "its," not "it's" in "just haul it out in it's natural state" as preposition possessives never take apostrophes (my, our, your, his, her, its).

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By: Angela () on 07-01-2009 21:47

By: Angela on 07-01-2009 21:47

In Lake Jackson Texas we also have a program that takes the trees to Surfside beach, about 8 miles from our town, to build up our dunes. This is especially helpful this year as Hurricane Ike took out city blocks worth of land including the already small dune line. It usually happens around mid-January, and it is strictly on a volunteer basis. If you live near, please help! Thanks!

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