How to reduce, reuse and recycle your Christmas trees and decorations
Holiday decorating is hard work, but the effort brings joy, color and light to the darkest days of winter.
The cleanup of holiday decorations, however, rarely brings joy. Some people can't wait to get it over with; my neighbor’s cut Christmas tree is at the curb before 4 p.m. on Christmas Day without fail, but we typically wait until Epiphany on Jan. 6 to begin removing our holiday decorations.
Whenever you begin removing your holiday decorations, think about the environmental impact and look for ways to reduce it. From disposing of your natural Christmas tree to tossing burned-out strings of lights, there are environmentally friendly options for disposal or reuse of nearly all holiday decorations.
How to recycle cut Christmas trees
Some Milwaukee-area municipalities collect used Christmas trees and chop them into chips for mulch. Trees should not be in plastic bags, and all decorations must be removed.
In Milwaukee, however, trees left at the curb or in the alley wind up in landfills. To get them chipped, city residents can take them to Milwaukee's self-help centers, 3879 W. Lincoln Ave. and 6660 N. Industrial Road, generally from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Also in Milwaukee, natural trees can be taken to the 2023 Washington Heights Mulch Fest. The Washington Heights Neighborhood Association is sponsoring the event to keep trees out of landfills and turn them into mulch for the city to use in its boulevard and park garden beds.
Mulch Fest takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 14, at Washington Park — enter at 1859 N. 40th St., the park's 40th Street parking lot.
Enderis Park Neighborhood Association also is planning a Mulchfest, at 9 a.m. Jan. 7 at the playground, near North 72nd and West Burleigh streets. A mulching truck chops trees on site.
If you want to leave your tree intact, you can take it to Wanakia Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center at 2233 Mayfield Road in Richfield.
Wanakia rescues, rehabilitates and releases native Wisconsin wildlife and provides a home for some permanently disabled animals. The trees provide windbreaks, and some are put in enclosures so birds can use them for shelter, just as they would in the wild.
Wanakia asks that people call before leaving a tree: (414) 803-0388.
There are many other ways to recycle Christmas trees:
• Backyard wildlife habitat: Used trees make excellent winter habitat for birds, wildlife and even beneficial insects. Simply place your used tree in the garden or yard and use it as a winter bird-feeding station and sanctuary. Suet, bird feeders and even strings of popcorn, cranberries or orange slices hung on the tree will attract birds, and they will use the tree for shelter.
• Mulch: Use a sharp pair of pruners to cut the branches, which can be used as winter mulch on planting beds. Leave them whole, or cut them into pieces.
• Compost: Live trees can be added to compost piles when cut into small pieces. Depending on the size of your tree, the trunk might have to be sawed into smaller pieces and will take longer than the branches to decompose.
• Make wooden coasters: Use a handsaw to cut the lower portion of your Christmas tree trunk to make drink coasters or small trivets. Simply cut the trunk into ½-inch slices and then sand down the surfaces and stain and seal before using them.
• Fish habitat: If you have a pond or lake on your property, used Christmas trees make excellent wildlife habitat when placed beneath the water. Simply secure the tree with rope to two concrete blocks before dropping the tree into the water. Some park districts with lakes will also collect trees from consumers for this purpose.
More:From wrapping paper to leftovers: Tips for recycling and reducing waste this holiday season
What to do with wreaths, roping and holly boughs
Wreaths made from live evergreens, holly boughs and pine roping can all be used as mulch or added to compost piles. Unwind and remove the wire or string on pine roping, and cut the branches and boughs into smaller pieces. Add to the compost pile or use as insulating mulch on planting beds.
Holiday plants: Can they be saved?
Live plants such as poinsettia, Christmas cactus and amaryllis can be saved for blooming again next season — if you are willing to provide care for them for the next 11 months. After its flower wilts, allow amaryllis plants to continue producing green leaves. as this foliage will add energy reserves to the bulb for flowering next winter. Amaryllis plants will need several months in a cool, dark area to bloom again next December.
To keep a poinsettia plant, simply continue providing water and lots of light through the winter and spring. Then prune the plant to approximately 6 or 8 inches in early summer. To bring out the full color of the plant next December, give it 12 hours of complete darkness each night for two months.
Keep Christmas cacti in locations with filtered light and provide 12 hours of complete darkness each day for about six weeks before desired blooming next season.
Recycling string lights
The old, burned-out or broken lights don't have to go out with the trash, either. They can be mailed or dropped at HolidayLEDs in New Berlin, which sends them to a recycling plant to be chopped and sorted into various materials, including PVC, glass and copper.
"These products can sit in landfills for hundreds of years," HolidayLEDs says on its website, which also notes lights not properly discarded can "pose a potential threat to animals that can get tangled in the strands."
To avoid that, mail the old lights to HolidayLEDs Recycling, 2300 S. 170th St., New Berlin, WI, 53151. Or you can drop them off in person there between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
People who drop off old lights get a discount coupon usable for new ones. No purchase is required, though.
For more information, see holidayleds.com/free-light-recycling.
Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Don't throw out Christmas stuff: How to reuse and recycle trees, lights
