Columbus offering free way to recycle your Christmas tree. What you need to know
The annual Columbus tree recycling program has started this year.
Keep Columbus Beautiful, the Chattahoochee River Conservancy, the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department and the Columbus Public Works Department are partners in the citywide campaign.
They will collect Christmas trees from drop-off locations throughout the city from Dec. 26 through Jan. 12. The collected trees will be used for fish habitat in local lakes, according to the Columbus Consolidated Government’s news release.
“Christmas trees are biodegradable, which means they are easy to break down on their own,” the news release says. “Recycled trees last 2-3 years in the river, which contributes natural resources to our environment.”
To have your Christmas tree recycled in this program, it must be stripped of all ornaments, lights, decorations and nails.
The collected trees are “bundled up together and thrown in lakes to create reefs,” the news release says. “These reefs give young fish a place to hide from larger fish, provide new nesting grounds, and allow for the growth of algae. This helps the ecosystem as a whole: the algae feed aquatic bugs, bugs feed little fish, and little fish feed large fish.”
Recycling your Christmas tree also saves space in the city’s landfill.
Christmas trees will be collected at these locations in Columbus:
- Shirley Winston Park
- Cooper Creek Park
- Dinglewood Park
- Britt David Park
- Oxbow Meadows main gate.
For more information about this program, call Keep Columbus Beautiful director Lisa Thomas-Cutts at 706-225-4008 or email her at kcbc1987@columbusga.org.
This story was originally published December 26, 2024 at 11:47 AM.
