Some people take their Christmas tree down on Boxing Day, while others wait for until well past New Year’s before they consider the party to be over.
Either way, one needs to decide how to dispose of their trees once they pull off the decorations.
Global News recently spoke with Kelsey Leonard on the best ways to dispose of your Christmas tree.
She is an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo and is also the founder of the Christmas Tree Lab, which is focused on supporting the Christmas tree industry across Ontario through scientific research.
The most obvious option is to throw the tree to the curb and allow your local municipality to turn it to mulch, but there are pitfalls.
“I would also say if you are looking to dispose of your Christmas tree through your local municipality’s waste collection, really make sure that you remove all of the items on the tree,” Leonard said.
“Unfortunately, through our research, we’ve heard that folks will leave tinsel, they’ll leave lights, they might forget about an ornament that’s on there.”
She said that will often prevent municipalities from mulching the trees.
“It’s really hard to use those trees and they then will wind up in a landfill or some other form of disposal,” Leonard said.
“So we, as Christmas tree enthusiasts, need to be careful about how we take care of those trees at the end of their life, of our holiday season and hopefully we give them back to nature to replenish our environment.“
While the idea of dragging your tree to the curb will appeal to many Ontarians for its ease, there are other environmentally-friendly options as well.
“It’s really important to be conscientious of how you use your tree or dispose of your tree after Christmas and so or after the holiday season, depending on how you may be enjoying a Christmas tree,” Leonard said.
She said that the Christmas Tree Lab has discovered some innovative ways that local conservation authorities and botanical gardens have been using discarded trees in their work.
“So you might be able to look to your local conservation authority, to a local botanic garden, to a local nonprofit who might actually be using recycled Christmas trees to do environmental restoration projects,” Leonard explained.
One example she provided was a stream and shoreline restoration project.
“They actually will take these Christmas trees and they will tie them to allow for there to be sediment capture, to restore cold habitat for different fish species and other species in those aquatic environments, and also to restore degraded streambeds and embankments along natural watercourses,” Leonard said.
“So some really cool and innovative things that conservation authorities have done with recycling programs, and many of them in different regions across Ontario are still looking for Christmas trees at the end of the season to incorporate into their recycling program.”
One could also cut it up and compost it as another option as well.