What to do with your Christmas tree now that the holiday is over
Now that the holiday season is wrapping up and a new year is about to begin, what are you supposed to do with your Christmas tree?
Let’s say you’ve bought one of the 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees that are sold every year. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, these real trees are a renewable and recyclable resource and there are over 4,000 local programs dedicated to recycling Christmas trees throughout the U.S.
Can you recycle your Christmas tree?
While some areas do allow residents to include the Christmas tree in weekly recycling and garbage pickup, the window allowing it is usually limited. If you don’t live somewhere where your Christmas tree can be left out for pickup, look up drop-off sites in your community — most likely organized by your city or town’s environmental management office — and deliver your tree where officials can handle the rest of the process properly. (Some programs run into January, so this isn’t a mandatory action you have to take immediately after Christmas Day.)
“Treecycling” is the ideal answer if you’re looking to get rid of your real Christmas tree. Officials will likely grind these trees into useful natural materials — primarily mulch or sometimes even help for composting and fish and animal habitats.
Regardless of whether your tree is getting picked up or you’re dropping it off to be recycled, remember to remove all ornaments and decorations. According to Earth911, a recycling database, if you decorated the tree with fake artificial snow or any spray-on materials that cannot be easily removed from the branches or pines, the tree cannot be recycled.
Is it safe to cut up your tree and use it in your home’s fireplace?
It is not safe, according to Advance Chimney Sweeps, a chimney technician company based in Pennsylvania.
“Your Christmas tree is not appropriate fuel for your fireplace, and burning it can create a blaze that is intense, unpredictable and difficult to control,” the group wrote in a blog post, adding that the problems come from the tree’s pine needles, natural sap and its moisture levels.
“Even if your chimney has been recently swept and given the all-clear, the intensity with which a spent Christmas tree burns can be too much for your chimney system to handle,” Advance Chimney Sweeps said.
Can you replant your Christmas tree in your backyard?
If you bought your Christmas tree with roots, you have the option of either donating the tree to an outdoor community or replanting the tree in your backyard. The Spruce warns it’s important to decide whether you want to replant the Christmas tree before buying it so you can properly prepare, reiterating you cannot replant a Christmas tree that was properly cut down.
How to throw away your Christmas tree
If you can’t recycle your Christmas tree, check with local waste management to make sure they accept it as “yard waste,” in which case, it can be left with other garbage to be picked up in regular trash collection. You might also want to check with your local waste management to ensure that the size of the tree abides with garbage regulations.
Let’s say you sprayed part of your tree or it’s oversized, but you don’t necessarily want to throw the entire thing in the trash for a landfill. Local news outlet KRTV notes there are some small at-home options for recycling elements of the Christmas tree including creating scented bundles with pine needles.
