"Beginning January 5, you'll be able to take your live Christmas trees drop it off at 25 different locations and make sure you put them in corrals at those locations," said Deputy Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Malcolm Whiteside.
The program will continue through Saturday, January 19. The city says it mulched more than 18,000 trees that were reused by the Chicago Park District and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
Your Christmas trees have to be stripped of decorations and lights, and don't put them in bags when you drop them off. They will go in the shredder and get turned into pine smelling mulch. Free mulch will be available at six locations throughout the city for you to take home.
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Last year, the city turned over 18,000 trees into mulch, used in local parks to protect and nourish plants and soil, making this a program beneficial for residents and the environment.
"You don't want these live trees to end up in landfills, Christmas trees equivalent to having a dishwasher or laundry machine in a landfill," Whiteside said.
Close to 300,000 trees have been recycled since the program started.
For more information and a list of recycling locations in Chicago, visit www.cityofchicago.org/dss, and click here to see a map of locations. You can also call 311 for information on the tree recycling program.