Christmas Tree Recycling!
Your Gift to the Earth!
It’s that time again to recycle your Christmas tree! The City of Torrance will recycle Christmas trees as part of your curbside collection for those unable to use the green waste container during December 28, 2015, through January 14, 2016.
Trees can be up to six (6) feet long without needing to be cut. Then, place the tree at the curb at least four feet from your automated containers by 7:00 a.m. on your regularly scheduled collection day between December 28, 2015, and January 14, 2016. A separate truck will collect the trees to use as mulch and landfill cover.
Christmas trees put out for collection before or after the recycling collection dates, flocked trees, or trees not put in the green waste container, must be cut up and placed in the automated refuse container for removal.
Note: The large item collection program will not be available during the curbside Christmas tree recycling program. Remember that it takes at least a week to schedule the large item pick up, so please plan accordingly. For further details visit the Public Works Christmas Tree Recycling webpage.
For those not serviced by Torrance Sanitation, LA Sanitation offers several tree drop-off locations. Drop-off locations are open for ONE DAY ONLY, please visit the webpage for the date, locations, and all the details.
For more information, call City of Torrance Public Works Department at 310-781-6900.
Below is a list of other recycling options:
- Bird feeders: Place the Christmas tree in the garden or backyard and use it as a bird feeder and sanctuary. Fresh orange slices or strung popcorn will attract the birds and they can sit in the branches for shelter. (Make sure all decorations, hooks, garland and tinsel strands are removed). Eventually (within a year) the branches will become brittle and you can break the tree apart by hand or chip it in a chipper.
- Mulch: A Christmas tree is biodegradable; its branches may be removed, chipped, and used as mulch in the garden. If you have a neighbor with a chipper, see if he will chip it for you.
- Paths for hiking trails: Some counties use the shredded trees as a free, renewable and natural path material that fits both the environment and the needs of hikers!
- Living, rooted trees: Of course, next year, you could get a rooted (ball and burlap or containerized) tree and then plant it in your yard after Christmas. (It’s a good idea to pre-dig the hole in the late fall while the soil is still soft, then plant the tree into that hole immediately after Christmas.) Living trees have a better survival rate in mild climates.
