Recycle Christmas Trees, Not the Landfill

It's Dec. 26. The presents have been opened, the fruitcake consumed -- mostly -- and the eggnog drunk.

Now it's time to do something about the brittle tree standing in the corner that was so fresh just a couple of weeks ago.

The easiest way to dispose of a tree is to set it out with the trash, where the local hauler will take it away for recycling.

"We don't want them to take up landfill space," said Diane Christensen, program administrator for Riverside County's Waste Management Division.

Christensen is backed up on this by the division's assistant chief engineer, Joe McCann.

"It's a shame to put into a landfill something that can go to better use," McCann said.

The mulch made from ground-up Christmas trees is used for garden fertilizers, trail beds, landscape decoration and as fuel for power plants.

The tree must be stripped of all its decoration, including tinsel, or most haulers won't pick it up, said representatives of county waste management departments and trash haulers.

A flocked tree is not a candidate for recycling. It will have to be cut up and disposed of in a landfill, they said.

For those who don't have curbside pickup, trees can be taken to a county landfill or to a private recycler.

Christmas tree disposal has become a major operation in the United States, said Steve Kanow, operations director for Waste Management Inc., a major trash-collection contractor in the Inland area.

"Most people don't realize that, as a nation, we generate about 5 million additional tons of trash during the holiday period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day," Kanow said in a news release. "Locally, recycled trees will have a second life as mulch for gardens and fuel for electricity."

He said 40,000 tons of Christmas trees are disposed of each year in California.

Tree disposal

All trash haulers will begin collecting used Christmas trees for recycling or disposal beginning today and end the program two to three weeks later. Check with your local hauler to be sure.

To prepare trees for recycling:

Remove plastic or metal stands

Remove lights, tinsel and ornaments

Cut the tree into 4-foot sections

Flocked trees cannot be recycled. Cut them into 4-foot or smaller sections and place in your regular trash bin.

In Riverside County, those who can't or don't wish to leave their trees at the curb to be picked up can take them to two landfills, where they will be collected and taken to recyclers:

Badlands Landfill, 31125 Ironwood Ave., Moreno Valley

Lamb Canyon Landfill, 16411 Lamb Canyon Road, Beaumont

Trees can also be dropped off at the following recyclers:

A. Lua Wood Recycling, 18938 Mermack Ave., Lake Elsinore

B.P. John Recycling, 28700 Matthews Road, Romoland

Robert A. Nelson Transfer Station, 1830 Agua Mansa Road, Riverside (this recycler will take trees only from residents of Riverside)

For more information, call 951-486-3200 or go to www.rivcowm.org

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