The holidays are over. You’ve packed up the decorations, pulled down the lights, and vacuumed up all the pine needles. Unfortunately, still have a large, quickly browning tree to deal with. The team at The Davis has some suggestions for what to do with your old Christmas tree this year.
Reuse & Recycle
Live trees are fully biodegradable. You can strip the tree of some needles and use them in potpourri bags to keep the comforting fragrance of the holidays around longer. As for the rest of the tree, the city of Fort Worth will collect trees as part of their normal yard waste curbside pickup if they’re less than 8 feet long (you can cut a larger tree into two pieces if necessary). If you live in an apartment community, check with management to see if individual trees can be included in the community’s weekly collection. If not, you can drop your tree off at various city-sponsored tree recycling stations to be turned into mulch. Two of the closest are located at 2800 W. Shady Grove Road in Irving and 5150 Martin Luther King Freeway in Fort Worth.
An Idea for Next Year
A great idea for the New Year is to invest in a Christmas tree with the roots intact, often you’ll see them wrapped up in burlap. After you’ve decorated up the tree, enjoyed the holidays, and put the decorations away, the tree is still alive. That means you can plant your old tree somewhere for others to enjoy for years to come. Now that’s upcycling.
What Not to Do
One thing you should not do is use a Christmas tree as firewood inside your home. When burned, freshly cut softwood species such as spruce, pine and fir trees will produce a lot of a chemical called creosote. It is highly flammable and prone to release sparks which can cause house fires. Creosote can also build up in your chimney and lead to chimney fires. However feel free to chop your tree up and use it for an outdoor firepit. Even outdoors, make sure you are extra cautious when burning due to how combustible this wood can be.
For more lifestyle tips and life hacks, read on at The Davis blog.