Arkansans who appreciate the smell and look of a real Christmas tree may be asking themselves the perennial question today: What to do with it after Christmas?
Though many cities offer curbside pickup, Christmas trees can also become shelter for bass and bream in many of the state’s lakes and rivers. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission collects firs, spruces and pines at 33 sites across Arkansas, spokesman Keith Stephens said.
“It’s been a really popular program,” said Stephens, a veteran of more than 20 years at the agency.
The tree program has been in place since he started working for the commission, he said.
“Lots of people want to do something more than just put them on the curb. It gives structure where fish can go hide from predators. It also presents a good area where you can fish.”
Approximately 30 million natural Christmas trees are sold in the United States annually, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, a trade organization representing the industry. There are more than 4,000 Christmas tree recycling programs in the country, according to the association’s website.
All trees donated to the Game and Fish Commission at each location are tied together, strung up with heavy weights, and sunk in lakes or rivers, Stephens said. There, the trees provide good shelter from currents, predators and good nesting grounds.
Stephens said the commission generally gets between 10 and 30 trees at each drop-off location, or between 300 and 900 statewide. The deadline is Jan. 31 to drop off trees.
“We normally have a really good turnout,” Stephens said.
The trees are also free to take for anyone who would like to sink a few trees in their ponds or streams, according to a news release on the Game and Fish Commission’s website.
Whether the tree will be sleeping with the fishes or put out on the curb, Little Rock sustainability officer Melinda Glasgow said it’s important to remove the lights, tinsel and other decorations.
“Please take your lights and decorations off,” Glasgow said. “Please, please, please don’t recycle Christmas lights.”
The best way to repurpose decorative lights, Glasgow said, is to donate them to Goodwill.
Even if the lights aren’t working, Goodwill can strip the cords down and recycle the copper inside the wires, according to a Goodwill news release.
Glasgow said the city’s yard waste crews will take de-decorated trees on regular pickup days, haul them to the city’s landfill and run them through a wood chipper. The recycled trees become compost and mulch.
Glasgow and Stephens warned residents not to burn Christmas trees. After a month or more of drying out in a home — even with proper watering — the trees burn quickly.
“They go up once they get dry,” Stephens said. “They go up like a match. That’s not a good thing. We hope they [people] donate them to us instead.”
The Arkansas Arboretum at Pinnacle Mountain State Park also takes donated Christmas trees to turn into compost, according to previous reports. Others help to slow erosion and provide shelter for small animals.
Some municipalities in Northwest Arkansas will pick up natural trees at the curb or accept them for compost.
Fayetteville will pick up trees from the curb through January. Residents can leave them with other trash and recyclables. Trash pickup is delayed by one day this week because of New Year’s Day, according to a city news release.
Residents can take trees to the city’s composting site at 1708 S. Armstrong Ave. Hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 8 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of each month.
In counties, residents should check with their trash collection providers to ask about collection of trees during regular pickup. Trees can also be reused as bird shelters.