Go green and recycle your evergreen

Wrap up your holiday season and say goodbye to your tree. Starting Tuesday, Dec. 26, residents served by the Department of Solid Waste Management can recycle their clean, decoration-free Christmas trees.

Residents can take their clean tree to a participating Trash and Recycling Center (TRC) or the West Miami-Dade Home Chemical Collection center (For tree drop off only). All Centers are open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Crews will collect Christmas trees from the curbside beginning Wednesday, Jan. 10. This year trees will be collected throughout the service area during two sweeps. Do not place whole trees or cut up trees in the green garbage carts or blue recycling carts.

• First Christmas Tree Collection Sweep: Jan. 10-21
  
  • Trees will be collected on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays
  • Place tree at the curb by Wednesday, Jan. 10
• Final Christmas Tree Collection Sweep: Jan. 24 through Feb. 4
  
  • Trees will be collected on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays
  • Place tree at the curb by Wednesday, Jan. 24

Christmas trees dropped off at the TRCs and those collected at curbside during dedicated Christmas tree collection will be recycled into mulch.

If you can’t wait to drop off your tree or don’t want to wait for curbside collection, you can use one of your two bulky waste pickups for the calendar year to have your tree removed. Trees placed at the curbside as part of a scheduled bulky waste pickup will not be recycled into mulch.

Reclaim free mulch made from your tree as a belated Christmas gift. Residents who provide proof of residency within the service area will be able to pick up free mulch at one of the TRCs starting in the spring.