Houston's Christmas Tree Recycling Underway

HOUSTON, TX — City officials, along with representatives from Reliant Energy and Living Earth, watched as the official city's Christmas tree was cut into small pieces and mulched for the 27th year in a row.

The annual event serves to encourage and remind residents to recycle their holiday trees, saving landfill space and disposal costs.

“Many families decorate their homes with a real traditional tree during December and the city’s recycling program provides a convenient way for residents to be good stewards and help support our city’s sustainability goals,”said Elizabeth Killinger, president of Reliant and NRG Retail. “As Houstonians, we at Reliant are committed to making our community a great place to live and work and we are happy to support this annual recycling tradition.”

From Dec. 26 through Jan. 15, residents can recycle their real (natural) trees by dropping them off at one of twenty-five (25) free recycling locations throughout Houston to the drop-off locations.

Additionally, SWMD will collect and recycle clean holiday trees left by residents at the curb on their scheduled Tree Waste collection day.

Trees collected for recycling will be chipped, mixed with leaves, and recycled into rich mulch made available in bulk directly from Living Earth or in bags as Living Earth Houston Mulch sold at Houston area retailers.

The trees must have all decorations, ornaments, tinsel, lights and stands removed; trees that still have these items attached will be collected as garbage. Flocked trees will not be recycled. Residents are being asked to discard fake trees with regular trash.

CHRISTMAS TREE RECYCLING LOCATIONS:
Open Wednesdays – Sundays 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

1. Central Neighborhood Depository 2240 Central St.
2. Kirkpatrick Neighborhood Depository 5565 Kirkpatrick
3. Sommermeyer Neighborhood Depository 14400 Sommermeyer
4. N. Main Neighborhood Depository 9003 North Main
5. Southwest Neighborhood Depository 10785 Southwest Freeway
6. Sunbeam Neighborhood Depository 5100 Sunbeam

Open Daily 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

1. Kingwood Bens View Lane at Bens Branch Drive
2. Doss Park (gates close at 5 p.m.) 2500 Frick Road
3. Memorial Park, Ball Fields 4 and 5 7300 Memorial Drive
4. T.C. Jester Park 4200 T.C. Jester West
5. Ellington Airport Recycling Drop-off Hwy 3 & Brantley Rd

Open Mon.-Sat. 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

1. Westpark Consumer Recycling Center 5900 Westpark

Monday – Friday 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. & Saturday 7:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

1. Living Earth 5802 Crawford Road
2. Living Earth 1503 Industrial Drive
3. Living Earth 1700 Highway 90A East
4. Living Earth 12202 Cutten Road
5. Living Earth 16138 Highway 6
6. Living Earth 5210 S. Sam Houston Parkway
7. Living Earth 27733 Katy Freeway
8. Living Earth 10310 Beaumont Highway
9. Living Earth 17555 I-45 South
10. Living Earth 20611 US Hwy 59
11. Living Earth 1000 FM 1266
12. Living Earth 16955 Katy-Hockley Rd
13. Living Earth 9306 FM 523 (Lake Jackson)

For more information about SWMD and our services, visit us at www.houstonsolidwaste.org, “LIKE” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/houstonsolidwaste, follow us on Twitter @HoustonTrash, or call 3-1-1, the City of Houston’s Customer Service Helpline.

Image: A young man throws his Christmas tree into a container. (AP Photo/Matthias Rietschel)

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