December 21, 2021 | From City of New Orleans
City Encourages Residents to Recycle Christmas Trees for Coastal Restoration
NEW ORLEANS — Today, the City of New Orleans reminds residents that the Christmas tree recycling program will continue in an effort to restore and protect the Louisiana coastline.
Orleans Parish residents who receive solid waste collection services by the City’s contractors Richard's Disposal and Metro Service Group, in service areas 1 and 2, are encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees. Residents are asked to place their trees curbside before 5 a.m. on their regularly scheduled collection day between Jan. 10-15, 2022. Properties in the French Quarter or DDD, serviced by Empire Services, should place their trees curbside before 4 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022.
Only natural, unflocked trees that are free of tree stands and all trimmings (decorations, ornaments, tinsel and lights) will be collected for recycling. Flocked, artificial trees, trees in bags or trees with unremoved trimmings will be collected with garbage and transported to the landfill. Trees are not to be placed on the neutral grounds, as this delays the collection process.
Working collaboratively, the City’s Department of Sanitation; waste management contractors Metro Service Group, Richard’s Disposal, IV Waste, and Empire Services; the City’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and the Louisiana National Guard will collect, sort and bundle the recycled trees. They will then be placed in selected coastal zones to restore wetlands lost to erosion and the sinking of the land (subsidence).
In 2021, more than 5,000 Christmas trees were collected in Orleans Parish after the holidays and then airlifted by the Louisiana National Guard into the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge to create new marsh habitat. After the trees are dropped by helicopter, workers arrive by boat to move them to their final position. Over the course of this program, recycled Christmas trees have restored an area of marsh equal to almost 200 football fields. The trees also create important habitat for birds, fish, crabs, crawfish and shrimp.
Residents seeking more information should call NOLA 3-1-1.
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