Plenty of places to recycle dried-out Christmas trees
By Wednesday, Ryan Smith’s Christmas tree was a dried-out shadow of itself.
“We put it up in early December, so it’s dropping needles all over the place now,” said Smith. “Time to get rid of it.” Smith did just that, the environmentally friendly way, by tossing the not-so-evergreen on the pile of other discarded holiday twigs at Kelowna’s Cook Road boat launch on Wednesday.
You can drop off your spent Christmas tree there, any time of the day or night, until Jan. 31 for free.
All will be collected after that and chipped into landscape materials by the Regional District of Central Okanagan.
In a statement that sounds racy, the regional district specifies only naked trees will be accepted. What that means is you have to remove all tinsel, decorations and lights before scrapping your tree.
You can also toss your used tree for free at the Glenmore Landfill from 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. until Dec. 31.
Once the new year rolls around, a $5 fee will be charged at the landfill.
However, if free is paramount, you can abandon your tree at no charge at three other locations in the Central Okanagan.
Ditch the tree any time until Jan. 31 in the parking lot off Houghton Road at Ben Lee Park in Rutland.
It’s also an any-time deal at Jack Seaton Park on Camp Road in Lake Country until Jan. 31.
And the former Westside landfill on Asquith Road is accepting trees Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. until Jan. 31.
Trees jettisoned at those four locations will also be chipped into landscaping materials.