Don’t Toss That Christmas Tree!

When Christmas is over, it means that it is also time for ‘Bring One for the Chipper! It is Christmas tree recycling time.  Please don’t just toss that Christmas tree!  Live trees are a renewable resource so you can feel good about using a live tree at Christmas as long as you remember to turn it in for recycling after the holiday.  We will ‘chip’ all those trees into useful mulch or give them away for fish habitat in local ponds. So this year’s Christmas trees will live on in a very useful way!

Bring One for the Chipper is part of a statewide effort that began in 1991. Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation spearheads the project with state corporate partners---Home Depot, The Davey Tree Expert Company and WXIA-TV.  Locally, this annual event is sponsored by Keep Liberty Beautiful, the Georgia Power Company, the Georgia Forestry Commission, and Brewer’s Christmas Tree Farm.  Why do we do it?

There are many good reasons:

•     To promote awareness about the benefits of trees.  Trees help clean the air and keep the air cool. So we also give out tree seedlings for planting for each tree turned in for recycling.
•     To raise awareness about environmental concerns and solutions.  Recycling is one of the easiest ways that local citizens can make a positive difference for our environment every day.
•     To increase citizen involvement in solutions that help to reduce solid waste.  You--and I---are the solution to waste reduction. Our everyday choices about what we buy and what we use and then how we dispose of items determine how much waste is accumulated.  I don’t think you want to live in a ‘trash world’ any more than I do.
•    To support the state yard trimmings disposal ban by recycling these trees instead of putting them in landfills.  About 20% of the stuff in landfills already is organic and could have been composted or disposed of more effectively. Let’s try to recycle these trees so that they can be reused purposefully as mulch or fish habitat or even chopped up for firewood at your home.
•    To produce useful mulch for home and community projects for soil enhancement and erosion control.  By mulching the trees that are turned in, we can offer free mulch to local citizens to enhance their landscape and to prevent soil erosion.
•    To give out tree seedlings for planting in exchange for recycled trees to beautify our community and to encourage planting.

If you are unable to join us on our main ‘Mulch Day’ in January, you can also deposit your tree in the designated location at any Liberty County Solid Waste Convenience Center or Recycling Drop off Center during normal operation hours between December 26th and our January Mulch Day (on event calendar).  These locations are:

•     25 South Dairy Road (SR 196W, GumBranch)
•     156 Pate Rogers Road (Fleming)
•     836 Limerick Road (near Lake George)
•     64 Left Field Road (Hwy 84, Miller Park)
•     619 J V Road (west of Hinesville)
•     50 Isle of Wight Road (Midway area)
•     344 Ft Morris Road (East End near Sunbury)
•     111 Carter Road (behind Poole's Deli)
•     129 Sandy Run (off Hwy 84)
•     941 E G Miles Parkway ( SR 196W at Training Center)
•     4000 Coastal Hwy (Hwy 17 in Riceboro)

•     Our annual Mulch day site at 1113 E Oglethorpe Hwy (Health Dept Parking Lot)

Citizens in Hinesville and Walthourville can contact their local public works department for pick up or local drop arrangements .  
 
Please remember to remove all decorations from your tree before dropping it off.  Those decorations can really be a problem when the trees are going through the chipper. Decorations do not make good mulch, so please remember to undecorate those trees.
 
The Chipper program has significant environmental benefits for our county and the 120 plus other Georgia communities that participate each year.  The Chipper is a simple but effective program that benefits all of us.  Please give this gift to nature this year. It is one present that will not need any wrapping!  Thank goodness!