sfenvironment.org

Serious Xmas Tree Recycling--SF Chronicle

(December 27, 2008)

By Kelly Zito,

San Francisco waste officials hope that residents make and keep at least one New Year's resolution for 2009: recycling their Christmas trees.

On Friday morning, the city's Department of Environment teamed up with waste company Sunset Scavenger to chip up about 15 Douglas fir trees, turning them into a pile of fragrant, greenish mulch.

The demonstration across Polk Street from City Hall underscored just how serious San Francisco officials are about their goal of recycling and composting 75 percent of the city's waste by 2010. Right now, the city is at about 70 percent.

"There's this continuous stream - something is created from the earth, used for a short time and then thrown away," said Deanna Simon, spokeswoman for the department. "When you see all these landfills closing and getting contaminated, it's not an efficient, optimal or even responsible way to deal with things."

Last year, the city mulched 70,000 Christmas trees, or about 600 tons. Much of it - churned out by machines like the "Intimidator" used in Friday's demonstration - will be used in San Francisco's 242 parks.

The program keeps the trees out of landfills and gives valuable ground cover. It may also help cut down on dangerous pranks, said Jared Blumenfeld, director of the Department of Environment.

Last year, Blumenfeld said, individuals rounded up about 300 trees, piled them in a Western Addition park and burned them.

"Arson can be a real problem with these trees," he said.

San Francisco residents should remove any decorations, tinsel, fake snow or non-wooden stands from the trees. They can be set out before 6 a.m. on regular trash pickup days between now and Jan. 16. Officials urged residents to recycle the trees between Jan. 4 and 9, when Sunset Scavenger will be sending out special trucks.

Around the Bay Area, residents can call their city or sanitary service to find out about similar programs.

In Oakland, trees will be collected on regular trash days between now and Jan. 30. Officials ask residents to cut trees into 5-foot pieces and place them in the street 1 foot from the curb and 5 feet from garbage bins and parked cars.

Marin Sanitary Service will offer curbside tree collection on green yard waste pickup days for the month of January. Trees more than 6 feet must be cut in half or taken to the Marin Resource & Recovery Center at 565 Jacoby St. in San Rafael.

In addition, most Marin County fire stations accept Christmas trees for recycling. Residents should call their local station for drop-off times and details.