Recycle Your Christmas Tree This Year!

I have lived in many different states and all of them have different ways for you to dispose of your live Christmas tree after the Holidays. I'm sure that we have all been down streets in neighborhoods where the poor, old, dead tree is laying out by the curb......sometimes for several weeks. To me that always adds to the let down I feel after all the excitement of the Holidays!

Since living in Hawaii (Oahu) I find it comforting to know that my 'has seen better days' tree can be put to some good use, rather than just sent to the dump with the other garbage....

On Oahu, if you live in an area that has curbside pick-up you should place your bare tree (remove any flocking, ornaments or tinsel) by the curb or in your green barrel and it will be picked up along with the green waste. For neighborhoods that use the bag system, you can cut up the tree and place in a bag to be picked up along with your normal green waste.

There are many City Refuse and Recycling Convenience Centers on Oahu:

Ewa - Geiger Road
La'ie - 56-020 Kamehameha Highway
Wahiawa - 71-129 Wilikina Drive
Wai'anae - off Plantation Road
Waimanalo - Hihimanu Street
Waipahu - Waipahu Depot Road
Hale'iwa - Kawailoa Road
These centers are open daily from 7am to 6pm (closed New Year's Day)

You can also drop off trees at Hawaiian Earth Products composting sites:

Campbell Industrial Park (7am to 4:30pm M-S; 8am to 12pm Sunday)
(808) 682-5895
Kapa'a Quarry Road (8am to 4pm M-F; 11am to 3pm Saturday; closed on Sunday)
(808) 261--5877

The great thing about recycling your Christmas tree is that it becomes compost or mulch; then it is used in the city parks and other facilities. It is not taking up space in our landfills!

It makes me feel good to know that the tree that gave its life to bring happiness, joy and beauty into our Holiday home, in reality still lives on!