It’s that time of the year again – time to recycle your holiday trees. We know – we know – Christmas was just a few days ago but efforts are already underway to dispose of holiday trees in the City of Austin. On December 26th, Austin began allowing citizens to recycle their holiday trees curbside. All you have to do is leave your tree out on the curb the day your compost is collected.
Citizens are encouraged to leave their tree by the curb no later than 5:30 am the morning that they are scheduled for their composting collection services. Please note that trees sprayed with flocking will NOT be collected for recycling. In order to have your trees removed in this manner, you’ll need to remove all ornaments and decorations from the tree this includes tree stands, tinsel and lights. Leave the tree as is – do not put it in a bag. Otherwise, it will not be collected.
We want to take a moment to remind folks that only real Christmas trees can be composted. Artificial trees will need to be disposed of in other ways. Finally, if your tree is six feet or taller, you should cut it in half to make disposal easier.
Now, for those of you who can’t recycle your holiday trees in this way, and you would still like to recycle your tree. You can do so in person at Zilker Park. All Austinites even if they are not Austin Resource Recover customers can drop their trees off at Zilker Park. Similar rules apply to these trees as those that are recycled via curbside. The only difference is that you don’t need to cut trees that are six feet or taller in half.
Drop off dates are as follows:
- Sunday, December 31, 2022
- Saturday, January 7, 2023
- Sunday, January 8, 2023
Trees can only be dropped off between 10 am and 2pm on those dates.
If you would like mulch from the trees collected at Zilker Park, you can get it for free on a first come first served basis beginning January 12th at 9am. Note that the date and time may change subject to the weather. You are required to bring your own tools and storage containers for loading and transporting the mulch.
Any questions? Visit https://www.austintexas.gov/treerecycling for more information.
