Christmas trees aren’t the only things to recycle after the holiday

Six-year-old Erianna Cotant knows the family Christmas tree has another job after the presents are unwrapped and the holiday fades into yesterday. Her family usually takes the cut Yuletide tree, once decorated with all their baubles but now bare, to the nearby woods.

“We tell Erianna we use them for bunny habitats,” her mother, Erickia, said. “We live near woods with small animals, and it gives them more places to hide (and) burrow during the winter months.”

The Cotant family stacks them along with other branches and trees they’ve cut through the year to keep from falling on the house and are happy to help the animals survive those cold months.

The habitat method is just one way to recycle your holiday décor once we’ve made it to Christmas Past. From chopping your live cut trees to dry out for firewood, donating the entire tree to the Order of the Arrow or composting it yourself, you can pull quite a few ideas out of Santa’s sack.

Christmas trees can be recycled for a suggested donation of $2 per tree in the south parking lot of Bass Pro Shops on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018.

Ashley Krug, market development coordinator for the city of Springfield, said recycling doesn’t stop at those live trees. There’s plenty of ways to find new life for those artificial trees, often made with plastic and steel.

“Maybe I can take the arms off of that Christmas tree and use it for a window box decoration and add some of that greenery to it,” Krug said in a phone interview. “Maybe the tree’s looking a little rough in the long run, but I think being creative in those opportunities that we can and then disposing of them properly when they’re completely finished is key.”

Of course, recycling an artificial tree takes a processor the city doesn’t currently have, so the fake evergreen sadly has to be pitched in the trash, which will be transported to the city landfill, Krug said.

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Springfield sees nearly double the amount of waste at Christmastime

When she started working for the city nine years ago, Krug said 600 tons of waste was brought in daily. Lately, an average day at the landfill sees from 1,000 to 1,500 tons of waste. Come Christmas-time, that number nearly doubles, Krug said.

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“People are just getting rid of stuff they’ve gotten presents to replace,” Krug said.

After the presents are unwrapped and packaging piles up, Krug said that’s the perfect time to be thinking about ways to reduce and recycle. Items such as burned-out Christmas lights can be dropped at places like Lowe’s.

“We see massive amounts of cardboard for the landfill following Christmas, which is not unexpected, but cardboard is one of those things that we absolutely should be recycling as opposed to sitting in a landfill for a really long time,” Krug said.

For future holidays, Krug said she hopes folks look at the packaging they are wrapping presents in. Paper with foil or glitter is not recyclable and can end up in the trash.

“I was just at Target with my two-year-old, and he had grabbed a thing of wrapping paper that was super pretty and it had all the foil on them, and I looked at him and was like, ‘No, we can’t buy this. This isn’t recyclable,'” Krug said. “He put it back, and the woman next to me also put it back.”

You can find more details on recycling holiday items on the city’s environmental website under “Winter Tips.”

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Here’s where you can take your Christmas décor in the Springfield area

The city of Springfield Yardwaste Recycling Center, at 3790 S. Farm Road 119 in Brookline, will accept residential Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands and other organic decorations for no charge between Dec. 27 and Jan. 27, 2023. All other times of the year the standard fee schedule will apply. The facility is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday. Closed Sundays, Mondays and national holidays. Trees are not accepted at the Franklin Avenue and Lone Pine recycling centers.

Trees will be ground into wood chip mulch, available for purchase at the YRC and Lone Pine recycling centers. Remove all tree stands, decorations, wiring and twine. No flocked trees are accepted. For information, call 417-864-1905.

Boy Scout Tristan Koscheski shoves a Christmas tree into a trailer at the annual Christmas tree recycling program in the parking lot of Bass Pro Shops on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018.

Bass Pro Shops will accept live trees at 1938 S. Campbell Avenue, across the street from the main store entrance, between noon and 6 p.m. Dec. 26-31. A donation is recommended, which benefits the Ozark Trails Council Boy Scouts Wa-Sha-She Lodge Order of the Arrow. Please remove tree stands and all decorations. No flocked trees accepted. Trees will be used to provide structure and habitat for fish at Table Rock Lake, according to the city of Springfield.

Hansen’s Greenwaste, at 3341 S. Farm Road 107 in Brookline, will accept residential Christmas trees for no fee, Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Dec. 27 through Jan. 31, 2023. After Jan. 31, a $5 fee per tree will apply. Remove all tree stands, decorations and plastic bags. No flocked or artificial trees accepted. Call 417-877-8733 for details.

Wickman’s Gardens, 1345 S. Fort Ave., will accept live Christmas trees beginning Dec. 27 for a $5 donation. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Proceeds will be donated to the The Kitchen. Live cut trees only. No flocked or artificial trees accepted. Remove tree stands, all decorations and plastic bags. For information, call 417-862-3707.

Sara Karnes is an Outdoors Reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Follow along with her adventures on Twitter and Instagram @Sara_Karnes. Got a story to tell? Email her at skarnes@springfi.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Christmas trees aren’t the only things to recycle after the holiday