Twinkling pine, spruce and fir trees bring holiday cheer to homes around the world. But with the end of festivities comes the not-so-jolly chore of disrobing and discarding these unwieldy house guests.
You don’t want your Christmas tree to end up in a landfill, where it will take forever to decompose. So what’s the most responsible way to get rid of a Christmas tree?
Take a minute to search the internet for what your town recommends, or call your local trash haulers. Many communities will collect Christmas trees curbside for two or three weeks after the holidays.
Not only is this method most efficient (better to have a few garbage trucks driving around than a bunch of individual cars), but municipalities often use the trees for parks or habitat restoration, piling them into barriers against soil erosion or sinking them into ponds to provide habitat for fish. Some beachside towns use Christmas trees to rebuild sand dunes, a tactic that came in handy after Hurricane Sandy.
In New York City, the Department of Sanitation will collect your tree for mulching and “treecycling” from Jan. 2 through 12. Another option is to haul your tree to a MulchFest event, where you can watch it get chipped and bring home a bag of mulch.
Before you drag your shrub to the curb, make sure to strip the lights, ornaments and tinsel. If you wrap the tree in a plastic bag to get it out of the house, take the wrap off once it’s outside.
“If you leave anything on, the whole thing is garbage,” said Friday Apaliski, a sustainability coach based in San Francisco. Metal or plastic on trees can also damage choppers, and potentially harm people running that machinery, she added.
Read more The Nytimes
