Marion county residents got a surprise as the city announced an end to the Christmas tree recycling program in favor of a new initiative that allows them to dispose of their live Christmas trees curbside in January. In this specialized collection season, crews will pick up trees in addition to trash on their regular routes. To be collected, trees must be cut and bundled in 3-foot to 4-foot sections with all decorations and lights removed. Whether residents are in cart or hand-collection areas, Christmas trees will be picked up on regular trash collection days and will not affect regular trash limitations. In cart areas, residents may leave live trees in addition to up to two full carts. In hand-collection areas, residents may leave trees as well as up to 10 kitchen-size trash bags of waste. The trees will be taken to the Covanta facility to be burned to create energy for downtown buildings. The public should not leave its discarded Christmas trees at Indy Parks sites as some have in years past. Residents who wish to dispose of their Christmas trees personally may deliver them to Southside Landfill, GreenCycle or other private waste disposal or recycling companies that accept Christmas trees for a small fee.
For many years, residents have taken trees to Indy Parks, where they were chipped and recycled into mulch for the parks system. Scott Manning, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, said the change was made to prevent illegal dumping in Indy Parks, which is a growing problem. “People would dump their trees at the parks, and then think they could dump shrub trimmings and limbs throughout the year,” he stated. Another reason for the change was the cost of chipping the trees. “The forestry crews were out transporting and chipping for four to six weeks, at $22 an hour. It isn’t an efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”
Manning noted that when the program began, there were few places to recycle trees. “Now, you have GreenCycle and other programs, which is great.”
Renee Sweaney, an environmental activist, started a collection at Teacher’s Treasures in the parking lot at 1800 E. 10th St. With help from RecycleForce, Ray’s Trash, GreenCycle and Julie L Rhodes Consulting, from Jan. 2-11 you may drop-off your clean and real Christmas tree. Trees will be taken to GreenCycle to be turned in to mulch.