Comments on: Recycle Your Christmas Tree

By: Mark from Santa & Sons Christmas Trees

Mark from Santa & Sons Christmas Trees — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:39:13 +0000

Thank you, Trey, for your Christmas tree recycling suggestions. As a Christmas tree grower here in Oregon, we work hard to insure that our farm practices are environmentally sound and Christmas tree recycling is an important part of that cycle. Our farm practices have been inspected by the Freer Group of Seattle, Wa and certified by the Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers. In Los Angeles, our primary market, the City of L.A. has established an excellent drop off program that diverts real Christmas trees out of the landfills and grinds them into mulch.
Your suggestion of tossing your Christmas tree into a pond needs a bit of clarification. Christmas trees float, but sinking them by attaching some sort of weight does indeed provide for fish habitat and support the aquatic food chain. Be careful not to overdo it in small bodies of water to avoid upsettiing the oxygen balance as the trees decompose.
Growing Christmas trees is extremely labor intensive compared to most modern farming, providing stable employment in rural parts of the US, and is a decent and honorable way for us to make a living from our land. Providing our customers with a way to responsibly handle the tree after Christams is an important part of that.

By: Centsational Girl » Blog Archive » Thoughtful Disposal

Centsational Girl » Blog Archive » Thoughtful Disposal — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:01:48 +0000

[...] For a great article on disposing of your live tree in an eco-friendly way, click on over to Earth911.com for their helpful [...]

By: Global Alerts » News Archive » WKYC-TV: Recycling Your Christmas Tree

Global Alerts » News Archive » WKYC-TV: Recycling Your Christmas Tree — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:58:55 +0000

[...] can search by cities across the country for tree recycling programs by going online to http://www.Earth911.com or clicking on the local links [...]

By: S M Connors

S M Connors — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:29:40 +0000

My Christmas wreath looks like Christmas tree material. What do I do with it in January ?

By: Suddenly Frugal Blog » Blog Archive » Recycle Your Christmas Tree in the New Year

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:49:13 +0000

[...] seasonal Christmas tree recycling. In fact, here’s a timely article on the notion of Treecycling, the act of recycling a Christmas [...]

By: don’t simply toss, recycle «

don’t simply toss, recycle « — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:36:53 +0000

[...] Thousands of cities across the country offer Christmas tree recycling programs. Check Earth911.com or you can drop your tree off at a yard waste facility who will turn your tree into mulch. For more detailed information check out Earth 911 Christmas tree recycling guide. [...]

By: Christmas Tree Recycling « Kideney Sustainable

Christmas Tree Recycling « Kideney Sustainable — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:31:21 +0000

[...] It’s nearing that time of the year to start thinking about taking down the Christmas tree. For those who celebrated the season with a naturally grown tree consider mulching that tree instead of sending it to your local landfill. Tree pick-up and/or mulching sites vary from place to place so please check with your local municipality for specific mulching and composting opportunities in your area. Check out the following link for more tips and information: Five Step Treecycling Guide. [...]

By: Richard Mazzucchi

Richard Mazzucchi — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:08:06 +0000

Sustainable Holiday Trees and Wood Burning
Being green doesn’t mean getting rid of the beloved traditions in our lives. It means making new traditions, and really thinking about how we can green those traditions. Basically you have three options for your holiday tree listed here in order of sustainability: 1) purchase a live tree to transplant outside, 2) employ a synthetic tree that can be reused, and 3) buy a cut tree that can be repurposed at your home. If like many you choose the later consider buying it from an organic tree farm and using the six methods below to put it to greatest use when ready to dispose.
1. Cut the branches off and lay them over perennials in your garden. This will provide protection from temperature fluctuations and prevent the plants from heaving out of the soil.
2. Once you’ve used all the branches, you’ll be left with a trunk. Don’t get rid of it! I’ve used the trunks from a few of our holiday trees to make teepees to grow beans on, rustic fences, and as supports for shade covers and floating row covers.
3. You can cut the branches up into smaller pieces and use them to mulch your beds or garden paths. Don’t think you need a big, gas-guzzling chipper for this! I use a pair of trusty bypass pruners, and snip a few branches into pieces each time I go out into the garden. It takes a little more time, but it’s free, easy, and doesn’t have any impact on the environment.
4. Provide a home for the birds. Once you’re done with it indoors, remove the decorations and place your tree, stand and all, out in the yard. Birds will find it and use it as shelter during the winter months. In spring, once the birds don’t need it anymore, either chip it up or lay it on its side in a part of your yard where it can serve as a brush pile for other backyard wildlife.
5. Cut the branches off and use them at the base of a fresh compost pile. It’s a good idea to have coarser materials, like tree branches, at the bottom of the pile because it helps increase air flow to the pile.
6. Once dry, use the cut branches as kindling for a wood burning stove.

Now that we are on the subject of wood burning, I’d like to share some insights with you that may save you a lot of money heating your home. The efficiency of wood heating is the ratio of the useful heat provided to the space, divided by the heat content of the wood being burned. The best woods have the highest heat content and low ash, such as live oak with about 35 million BTU’s per cord, eucalyptus at 33, and birch or walnut at 25. Other woods like pine, cedar, and white fir and willow typically have less than 20 MBTU per cord.

The other factor is the amount of the available heat that is useful, rather than lost up the chimney. Most fireplaces without doors or inserts actually have negative efficiencies, meaning they send more heat up the stack than that provided by the burning wood. While you may feel warm standing close to the hearth due to its radiant glow, you may actually be cooling your home overall, and/or increasing the burden on your heating system. The most efficient wood stoves have efficiencies exceeding 70% by drawing combustion air directly from outdoors and employing catalytic converters and heat recovery devices to increase the combustion and heat transfer efficiencies. While high efficiency wood stoves may cost thousands of dollars, the savings in wood costs can quickly offset the expense and substantially reduce particulate emissions if you frequently heat with wood.

Never burn unseasoned wood and avoid chemically treated or painted wood. Unseasoned wood will use much of its combustion heat to vaporize water and add to the creosote and otherwise damage the metal surfaces of the stove and flue. Any chemicals in or on the wood will be vaporized and released in your home and surroundings, often with toxic effects.

Finally, when enjoying the comfort of efficient wood heat, maintain the flame to comfortable levels by carefully moderating the amount of air you provide for combustion. Keep the stove doors closed except when lighting or loading, and open the interior room doors to let the heat warm all the living areas of your home.

By: green rebates » Blog Archive » Handmade Holidays: Show it Off!

green rebates » Blog Archive » Handmade Holidays: Show it Off! — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:06:26 +0000

[...] gifts are all gifted, and maybe the ambitious among you have even recycled your Christmas tree already. Here’s your chance to show off all of your holiday hard work! We’d love to see [...]

By: ginacarson.com

ginacarson.com — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:47:33 +0000

Towns need to catch on to recycling in general.