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Christmas Tree Recycling

If you purchased a live tree for Christmas this year, you're probably thinking about ways to dismantle and dispose of the giant green ornament. What are your options?

Here are some tips on what to do with your tree after the holidays:

Curbside pick-up for recycling - Most areas will collect trees during their regular pickup schedules on the 2 weeks following Christmas. Rockwall residents can put trees out on bulk pick up days.

The City of Rockwall offers Christmas tree recycling. Residents can bring Christmas trees to the Rockwall Service Center at 1600 Airport Road. Please remove all ornaments and any decorations from the tree. Recycling service is available until Friday, January 6, 2012.

City of Heath - Christmas Tree Recycling: IESI will collect unadorned Christmas trees on the regular trash collection and bulk days. Please remove all lights, ornaments, tinsel and any other decorations from your tree; place tree at the curb with your garbage and recycling bins.

All Home Depot stores are offering recycling. Drop your tree off at the side of the building, near the Home Depot Garden Center. Trees should be free of ornaments and ready for recycling.

Take your tree to a drop off recycling center. Most counties have free drop-off locations throughout the county.

Cut the tree to fit loosely into your yard waste container.

Other tips and ideas:

* Tree Recycling / Mulching programs are a fast-growing trend in communities throughout the nation. Chip and shred the trees, to make mulch for use in your garden.
* Turn your Christmas tree into a bird feeder. Place the tree in the garden or backyard and use it as a feeder and sanctuary. Fresh orange slices and bird seed will attract the birds. They can sit in the branches for shelter. (Make sure all decorations, hooks, garland and tinsel strands are removed). When the branches become brittle you can break the tree apart by hand or chip it in a chipper.
* Mulch: A Christmas tree is biodegradable; its branches may be removed, chipped, and used as mulch in the garden.
* Important: DO NOT burn your Christmas tree in a fireplace or wood stove. Pines, firs and other evergreens have a high content of flammable turpentine oils. Burning the tree may contribute to creosote buildup and risk a chimney fire.