By David Goldstein –
‘O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Don’t meet your end in landfill debris.
From curb to cart, or drop-off free,
Your wood lives on sustainably.
As mulch for soil and canopy,
You close the loop responsibly.
Other than grinding your tree and using the mulch on site, the best “treecycling” method for the environment, requiring the least amount of truck idling time and transportation, is for you to cut your tree into four-foot segments and fit the pieces into your regular curbside yard waste recycling cart. Remove decorations, stands and other items.
Fire-proofed trees should be placed in trash carts rather than yard waste/organics carts. Similarly, trees flocked with fake snow cannot be recycled in some programs so should be cut and placed in garbage carts. However, flocked trees are acceptable for recycling in areas collected by Harrison Industries.
In areas collected by Harrison Industries, whole tree collection is free on the day of collection until January 10 inside cities, and until January 15 outside cities.
If you set out a tree after a deadline or request collection on a non-pickup day, you may be charged for special collection unless you make separate arrangements. In most areas, you can make these arrangements by calling your trash collector and requesting your annually allocated “free bulky item collection.”
If you live in a multi-family building without yard waste service, ask your apartment manager to contract separately with your hauler for special service.
In most areas collected by Harrison Industries, for two weeks, residents are allowed to set out twice their regular amount of trash at no extra charge. Thru Jan 10, place tied bags next to trash carts and collapsed cardboard next to recycling carts if it is too big to fit into the cart. In Harrison’s areas outside cities, up to two fifty-gallon bags of extra trash are allowed for three weeks after Christmas.
David Goldstein, Environmental Resource Analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency, may be reached at (805) 658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org
