How To Throw Away Christmas Trees In Montclair (2024 Update)

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Got an old Christmas tree that needs disposal? Here’s how to do it in Montclair for the 2024 holiday season.

According to a municipal advisory, Christmas trees placed at the curb will be picked up on or about each household's recycling day during the entire month of January.

The stand, plastic bag cover and all lights and tinsel must be removed before placing the tree at the curb. For trees already at the curb in bags, the bags must be removed from trees for pickup, otherwise Department of Community Services will not collect them.

Wreaths will be collected separately with refuse, officials said.

ANOTHER OPTION

There's also another option for old Christmas trees, according to the Montclair Animal Shelter: leaving them in your backyard.

According to a social media post from the shelter:

"The Nature Conservancy of Canada suggests leaving your old Christmas tree in your backyard.

"To help prolong the holiday spirit and share the gift of giving with wildlife, instead of bringing your old Christmas tree to the curb, Animal Control Officers suggest putting it in your own backyard.

"Leaving it in your backyard over the winter can provide many benefits for backyard wildlife and your tree can provide important habitat for bird populations during the winter months, especially on cold nights and during storms.

"The first step in letting nature help you recycle your Christmas tree is to put it anywhere in the backyard. Prop it up near another tree, against a fence or lay it in your garden. You can even get the family involved by redecorating it with pine cones filled with peanut butter, strings of peanuts and suet for birds to enjoy. These delicious decorations will provide food for birds while they find shelter in the tree.

"Evergreens offer a safe place for birds to rest while they visit your feeder. Another benefit is that if you leave the tree in your garden over the summer, it will continue to provide habitat for wildlife and improve your soil as it decomposes.

"By spring, the tree will have lost most of its needles, resembling a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Simply cut the tree branches, lay them where spring flowers are starting to emerge in your garden and place the trunk on soil, but not on top of the flowers.

"The tree branches and trunk can provide habitat, shelter wildflowers, hold moisture and help build the soil, mimicking what happens with dead trees and branches in a forest. Toads will seek shelter under the log, and insects, including pollinators such as carpenter bees, will burrow into the wood.

"Many of our Christmas trees, particularly spruce and balsam fir, have very low rot resistance and break down quickly when exposed to the elements. The more contact the cut branches and trunk have with the ground, the quicker it will decompose. Drilling holes in the tree trunk will speed up that process.

"Our backyards are ecosystems of their own and provide an opportunity to learn about forest ecology. By leaving our Christmas tree in our backyard, we can understand its life cycle and observe its impact on backyard biodiversity."

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