After Christmas - Recycling Your Tree
After Christmas, please recycle your tree. There are many options to do this. Some garbage services have a special pick-up for Christmas trees. In many areas, the Boy Scouts collect them for a small donation. To find the nearest recycle location, call 1-800-253-2687 or log on to www.earth911.org.
If you must dispose of your tree in your normal trash, please cut it up into small pieces. These will take less space in a landfill and will decompose faster.
Under NO circumstances should you try to burn your tree in your indoor fireplace!! As young and stupid college students, my housemates and I thought this was a good way to dispose of our "Christmas shrub". Bad idea! The extremely dry needles literally exploded in a big fireball when we touched a flame to the branches. Fortunately, the fire department wasn't required and singed hair and eyebrows grew back eventually. We were extremely lucky. Please learn from our near-catastrophe.