Rocky View County (RVC) is encouraging residents to recycle their live Christmas trees again this year.
The Christmas Tree Exchange program is back for its sixth year and is running until Jan. 19, 2014.
When people drop their natural Christmas trees of at one of the County’s transfer sites, they’ll receive a free coupon for a native tree seedling to plant in the spring.
“A lot of people recycle their trees already, so this is a good way to reward people for doing something right,” said RVC Solid Waste and Recycling Officer Joanne Walroth.
“Also, it encourages people who might dispose of their tree in a ditch or some other way to come to the site. It brings people to our transfer sites and they’re able to see what else we do there,” she added.
Walroth said the program was inspired by Alberta Environment’s One Simple Act program, which encourages people to lead more environmentally friendly lives.
She said by providing the Christmas Tree Exchange Program, the amount of waste going into landfills is reduced and new seedlings planted in the spring aim to help replace the trees cut down for Christmas.
She added the program encourages people to use real Christmas trees for the holiday season.
“Artificial trees are historically shipped from China, so there are a lot of emissions created through that process.
“Also, a lot of the trees aren’t made of the best contents, which isn’t the best to have in your house.”
She said the Christmas trees brought to the transfer sites are shipped to a mulching operating and the chips are composted.
Walroth said the program has been “very successful” in the past, “although this year wasn’t a good year for the seedlings to grow because of all the rain and the flooding we had.”
“I’ve heard from a lot of people in nearby municipalities that they want to start something similar,” she said about the exchange program.
To receive a coupon for a seedling, county residents can bring their natural trees to a County transfer site, located in Bragg Creek, Langdon and Irricana.
Residents can also drop their trees off at a partner site, but must email [email protected] or call
403-520-7286 to receive a coupon. The sites include:
• Crossfield Transfer Site
• Airdrie Recycle Depot
• Cochrane Eco Centre
• Bow Point Nursery north of
• Springbank on Range Rd 32
• Branched Out Nursery on 41078 Big Hills Springs Road.
