James L. Cummins

Recycle Your Christmas Tree by James L. Cummins

Let Christmas continue for months. If you recycle your live Christmas trees, you will be giving a gift to the environment. Your beautiful tree can be converted into several things – mulch, wildlife habitats, fish habitat and lake and river stabilization. And the way technology is moving in the area of cellulosic ethanol, in the near future, you may be trading in your Christmas tree for a gallon or two of synthetic gasoline.            

The mulch from the trees will provide a protective barrier for the roots of other plants while preventing weeds from growing. When the mulch decomposes, it will provide the nutrients plants need to thrive.            

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, pine-needle mulch helps the winter soil to retain heat. The warm soil will encourage early seeding and faster growth come spring. The mulch will then act as a stabilizer for the temperature and moisture while preventing sunlight from germinating weed seeds that compete with what you are trying to grow.            

To improve fish habitat, many trees can be sunken in farm ponds and lakes to create habitat for small fish and encourage the larger fish to scale on the outskirts. This helps create favorite fishing spots for our young anglers. Christmas trees have created some of my favorite places to fish in some of the gravel pits along the Tombigbee River in Northeast Mississippi and in the oxbow lakes of the Delta.            

In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, a conservation project was started in 1986 to help rebuild the coastline. They were losing approximately 25 to 35 square miles of coastal wetlands each year. To date, over 1.5 million Christmas trees have been recycled to create over 8 miles of tree fences and restored close to 300 acres of marshland. This effort proved to be very valuable when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.            

The state of Georgia is well-known for its recycling efforts, and its Christmas tree recycling program is another one of its many successes. Cleverly titled “Bring One for the Chipper,” the program is organized by Keep Georgia Beautiful in cooperation with private sponsors. The Chipper program involves hundreds of Georgia communities and thousands of volunteers. Communities have the option of coordinating a pick-up program or relying on designated drop sites; the trees are then turned into mulch that is used for playgrounds, beautification projects and individual yards. Since the beginning of the program over 5 million trees have recycled into mulched or used for fish and wildlife habitats throughout the state.  

Before you turn your tree over to the environment, be sure to remove everything including all ornaments, wire, hooks, lights, tinsel, garland, nails, screws and the stand.            

There are approximately 25-30 million real Christmas trees sold in the United States every year. Our environment can benefit from your donation. The nearest recycling program can be located by logging onto www.earth911.com/recycling/garden/christmas-trees/ or by calling 1‑800‑CLEANUP.

James L. Cummins is executive director of Wildlife Mississippi.

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