Preparing Christmas Trees for Proper Disposal

DULUTH, Minn. – The end of the Christmas holiday season means people with live trees will need a place to properly dispose of them.

The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District is reminding people that they cannot be part of curbside pickup.  They will need to be dropped off at one of 11 locations in Duluth and Carlton County.

Environmental Program Coordinator Lorilee Blais says all items on trees such as garland, lights, and ornaments must be removed, since the trees are recycled for other purposed once shredded.  “Most of it becomes our garden green compost, some might become trail bedding, and some might still be used as fuel.”

If you do have holiday lights you do not want to keep, Blais adds they have a separate recycling program for them.  “You can actually recycle them at our materials recovery center.  We actually will do light stands and electronic chord recycling year round.  There’s a lot of copper in those chords.  We do ship it to a place where it can be recovered.”

A list of all tree-cycling sites can be found here.  Some of those sites will close on January 10, while others will remain open through either January 17 or the end of January.