Recycle Those Christmas Trees in Charlottesville and Albemarle

From the desk of either “a good service provided by the local government” or “Charlottesville and Albemarle cooperate without great argument” …

From the County of Albemarle:

Trees will be recycled into free mulch for the public

It’s almost that time of year again!

As in the past, the Albemarle County Parks & Recreation Dept will host its annual Christmas Tree Recycling Program beginning December 26, 2009 through January 16, 2010. The Christmas Tree Recycling Program collects discarded Christmas trees which are chipped into mulch and then offered to the public at no cost. This program has been in operation since 1988 and recycles over 3000 trees each year; which in turn yields over 144 cubic yards of mulch. Not only does this recycling program provide citizens a place to dispose of a potentially large and cumbersome item, it also reduces the impact on our landfill.

By combining forces with the Charlottesville Curb Side Pick-Up Program, the two programs collected over 5600 trees last year, yielding approximately 268 cubic yards of mulch. According to the City Public Works Department, their curbside pick up will be the week of January 11th, 2010. Trees must be at the curbside by 7am. Shortly after the City’s curbside pick up, the County and City Parks & Recreation crews will team up to chip the estimated 2600 trees at Darden Towe Park.

As a reminder, this program is for Christmas trees only, please no yard waste. Both the County & City programs require that all decorations, stands and nails be removed from the Christmas trees. Free mulch will be available to citizen by February 1, 2009, at Darden Towe Park.

The County will operate seven sites daily, 7am till dark.

The sites are as follows:

– Chris Greene Lake in Earlysville

– Crozet Park

– Darden Towe Park

– Greenwood Community Center *

– Rivanna Solid Waste Authority Recycling Center on McIntire Road (*note: Sunday hours are 12noon – 5pm)

– Scottsville Community Center

– Walnut Creek Park

The recycling location on McIntire Road may be congested; please consider Darden Towe Park as an alternate location that is less congested and is suited better for large loads and contract haulers.