As the holiday season comes to an end, the time to take down Christmas trees is quickly approaching. That means deciding what to do with your tree once it's taken down.
Sending it to the landfill isn't the only option: Many live Christmas trees can be recycled.
There are endless ways to recycle trees, Shawnee Trail Tree Farm Manager Will Stribrny said, including curbside collection programs available in many communities.
"It's just kind of the same ideas as leaf collection, where they have a set number of days for you to put your tree out by the street," he said. Then the city or municipality collects it and usually turns it into mulch. "That's likely the easiest or most common method."
Hudson residents can use the city's Merry Mulch program to recycle their unwanted trees. Residents elsewhere in Northeast Ohio should look at their city websites for similar programs, Stribrny said.
Live trees can also be used to help wildlife, Stribrny said.
"At my house, we always take them just in the woods here, and we have a pile of them," he said. "The rabbits like to go in there and the birds, so it's a little habitat for them there, and three to five years they're pretty much decomposed and gone anyhow."
The trees can also be tossed into ponds to support aquatic life.
"We just throw them in the pond there where it's, like, five or six feet deep, and they just sink down on the bottom," Stribrny said. "Come springtime, you can see all the fish just gravitate right to those trees... They use them to hide from the bass for sure."
Stribrny picked up a few other tips from customers, including one who used tree scraps for his farm animals.
"We actually just had a gentleman today come in to get some scraps because he gives them to his goats and sheep," Stribrny said. "So if you have a neighbor that's got animals, I'm sure they'd be happy to use your tree for them."
For those looking for a Do-It-Yourself project after the holidays, the trees can also be cut down and used as coasters or other home decor, Stribrny said.
When and how to remove a Christmas tree
The average live Christmas tree can last anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months with proper maintenance, Stribrny said.
The biggest warning sign that a tree is on its last leg is when the tree stops taking in water and the needles begin to dry out.
"It's consistently losing water every day," Stribrny said. "So if it's not up taking more water, then you know that it's kind of at its end or nearing it."
It's best to remove the tree while it's still alive, Stribrny said, since this will cut down on the mess. But there are a few tips for those looking to keep their tree throughout the winter season.
"There's tree removal bags, which are just like big, giant, tall trash bags that you can put your tree in to get it out the door," Stribrny said. "Some people that get real large trees will actually go and clip off all the branches, while it's still in the tree stand, and take the branches out individually before they take the bare trunk out."
