BY ERIN WILTGEN
chh@heraldsun.com; 419-6654
CHAPEL HILL -- Needles blanket the floor like a prickly green carpet and the scent of pine has now fully seeped into the couch cushions. With the gift-giving bonanza and holiday celebrations at an end, Orange County residents can easily dispose of their Christmas trees, with little or no extra effort.
While the towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough each have slightly individualized requirements, they all follow the same basic principal: remove all tinsel, ornaments and artificial particles from the tree and put it on the curb according to the town's regular or holiday yard waste collection schedule.
"Hillsborough, Carrboro and Chapel Hill pick up brush at the curb," said Blair Pollock, Orange County solid waste planner. "Typically in the past Christmas trees have been considered brush."
The amount of Christmas trees disposed of -- either through curbside collection or convenience centers -- has dropped in the last couple of years as people seem to have switched over to artificial trees, said Terry Thomas, Orange County solid waste manager. But she added that, despite the dip, numbers have remained significantly high.
Rural residents can drop Christmas trees off at any convenience center other than Bradshaw Quarry, which is too small for the service, Pollock said. Convenience centers also request residents remove artificial material from the branches.
Citizens that live in a wooded area, however, can merely return the tree to the forest, Pollock said.
"Just let it be and decompose and become a part of the landscape," he said. "It creates a habitat for nesting birds."
And that concept of recycling the trees back into the environment doesn't just apply for residents in the woods. Pollock said that all Christmas trees picked up by the county and the towns go through the regular yard waste mulching program at the landfill.
"They are ground into the other yard waste and made into mulch or compost," Thomas said. "They are 100 percent recycled."
But the county's mulch, which is sold to community members, differs from that bought in stores, Pollock said. Not only does it help hold in water and reduce the amount of weeding, the mulch made from Christmas trees and other yard waste actually adds nutrients back into the soil.
"It's halfway between a compost and a mulch," Pollock said. "It has the vegetative quality."
