How Should You Properly Dispose of Your Christmas Tree?

HATTIESBURG, MISS. - Christmas has come and gone once again, and the next thing to do is get rid of those Christmas trees. The Parks & Recreation Department for the City of Hattiesburg wants residents to properly dispose of those trees. “Well, we just got our signs out and got everything situated for the program to begin,” the assistant manager of the Parks & Recreation Department for the City of Hattiesburg, Andy Parker said. The program that Parker is referring to is the Christmas Tree Recycling Program. "Well, this is an annual program that Parks & Recreation manage,” Parker said. “We will recycle live Christmas trees, and we have four drop-off locations.” The four drop-off locations are Duncan Lake, Cameron Ball Field, Fire Station Eight, and Petro Nissan. Parker says that recycling live Christmas trees helps the environment. “This is just a good thing for the environment,” Parker said. “Instead of it just going to a dump and decomposing that way, this is a good nutrient and rich material once it is ground up.” This program grinds live Christmas trees in small pieces of mulch, which ultimately helps nature decompose of the tree properly. Parker says this year, he expects the program to process more than 300 trees. “Three-hundred to 350 is typical,” Parker said. “However, I love to shot for 500 trees this year that would be a great mound of regenerated compost.” Parker hopes to meet his goal in two months. “Usually two or three days after Christmas people start taking them down, and we will run this program tell February 28,” Parker said. Before taking your Christmas tree to one of the four locations, make sure to strip off all the lights, decorations, and anything else that might be on your Christmas tree.