By Emily Davenport
Next week, the Sanitation Department will be hauling away Christmas trees as part of its annual curbside collection.
Starting Jan. 2, 2019, the New York City Department of Sanitation will collect clean, non-bagged Christmas trees throughout the borough. The collection will take place until Jan. 12, 2019, weather permitting.
Residents are reminded to remove all stands, ornaments, lights and tinsel before putting the trees to the curb. The collected trees will be chipped, mixed with leaves, and recycled into compost for the city’s parks, institutions and community gardens.
“While Christmas trees are in our homes for only a short period of time, recycling can give them a longer life,” said Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. “After collection, the trees are turned into compost to give life to plants in our city’s parks and community gardens. We thank all residents for taking part in the program.”
The city’s Parks Department is also holding its Mulchfest event as another option to tree recycling.
From Jan. 4 to Jan. 13, residents can come to one of 68 sites to drop off their Christmas tree so it can be made into mulch. Residents are again reminded to remove all lights, ornaments, decorations and netting from trees before dropping them off.
On the last weekend of Mulchfest, residents can come to one of 31 drop-off sites and bring home a bag of mulch for their homes.
“We encourage New Yorkers to bid their tree “fir-well” at Mulchfest, making it a part of their Holiday tradition,” said Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver. “By making greening a family activity, we all can help reduce waste, and protect and nourish other trees and plants across the city year-round.”
For more information on Christmas tree collection and recycling or MulchFest, visit www.nyc.gov/
Those who are looking to get rid of plastic or metal fake trees are encouraged to sell or donate their trees.
Donation opportunities may be found at nyc.gov/
