The Delaware Center for Horticulture’s annual TreeCycle event for the beneficial reuse of holiday trees is family-friendly and -involved. This year’s TreeCycle, again sponsored by DNREC, is set for Saturday, Jan. 4, from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. /DNREC photo

 

DNREC Again Sponsors DCH Beneficial Reuse Event for Holiday Trees While Advising on Other Environmentally
Helpful Tree Disposal Options to Include a Salt Marsh Restoration Project at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is again sponsoring the Delaware Center for Horticulture’s (DCH) TreeCycle event that aims to make beneficial reuse of holiday trees by turning them into wood chips and mulch while also keeping the trees out of the state’s landfills. TreeCycle is a family-friendly recycling event to be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 4, at the DCH parking lot, 1810 North Dupont Street, Wilmington, DE 19806 where Delawareans can bring their holiday trees for environmentally-rewarding disposal.

The Davey Tree Expert Company again will be on hand at the TreeCycle event to chip and mulch trees with a commercial chipper/grinder, producing organic material to be used in DCH gardens, the Shearman Street community garden, and public landscapes throughout the City of Wilmington. All ornaments, garland, lights and stands must be removed before trees can be recycled and no artificial trees are accepted. A suggested donation of $20 per vehicle bringing holiday trees to TreeCycle will benefit DCH’s community forestry efforts.

In addition to sponsoring the DCH event, DNREC continues to encourage Delawareans to recycle their holiday trees for the environmental benefits they provide when repurposed – versus the environmental downside of post-holiday trees going to waste either in a landfill or littering a landscape when they can be a valuable organic resource.

While the state’s solid waste regulations now prohibit Christmas trees from going into the state’s landfills, prior to Delaware’s yard waste ban, that was the destination for many of them, where they took up valuable space, rather than being handled by local markets for beneficial reuse as mulch and home composting. Not to mention, apropos of climate change impacts facing the First State today, that holiday tree mulch is great for helping conserve and enhance Delaware soil by sequestering carbon that both fertilizes the soil and helps it retain moisture.

Nowadays, instead of going into the landfill, holiday trees can be dropped off at numerous yard waste collection or drop-off sites across the state, where they’ll soon be turned into mulch or compost – though residents should also be aware that many of the commercial sites charge a fee for accepting trees to be recycled. DNREC also reminds residents who don’t plan to take their trees to a yard waste drop-off site that they should check with their waste hauler or municipality to see if the hauler or town offers curbside collection of holiday trees. If residents find that curbside pickup is unavailable to them, they are advised to check DNREC’s by-county listing of yard waste drop-off sites.

Another free disposal option with the environment in mind is the Coastal Delaware National Wildlife Refuges’ collection of holiday trees for a salt marsh restoration project at Bombay Hook NWR near Smyrna that runs from Dec. 27 to Jan. 13, 2025. The project, undertaken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, calls for placing the disposed holiday trees so that they will help “catch sediment and help build back some of the marsh and reduce the impact of waves along Bombay Hook’s wildlife drive,” according to a recent Coastal Delaware National Wildlife Refuges Facebook post. Trees must be stripped of all decorations before they are dropped off at the refuge. The project is also being supported by the Delaware Wild Lands conservation organization. For more information, call 302-595-1609.

More information about yard waste collection in Delaware can be found at de.gov/yardwaste. More information about the Delaware Center for Horticulture and the TreeCycle event, which has a Jan. 5 rain date, is at thedch.org.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment.  The DNREC Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances ensures Delaware’s wastes are managed to protect human life, health, safety and the environment. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

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