COUNTY: RECYCLE TREES AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

RIVERSIDE

Consider recycling rather than throwing away Christmas trees for the benefit of the environment, Riverside County officials are urging.

According to the Department of Waste Resources, residents can ensure trees are turned into “nutrient rich” mulch by participating in the agency’s curbside pickup program, or taking seasonal firs directly to the Badlands and Lamb Canyon landfills east of Moreno Valley.

The recycling program involves turning tannenbaums into chips and combining them with food waste from the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning to create compost that enhances the soil onto which it’s poured.

Trees must be stripped of decorations, including lights and tinsel, before they can be recycled. Flocked trees are not accepted and are supposed to be chopped up and put into trash receptacles.

Most trash haulers serving the county retrieve firs for recycling at least two weeks after Christmas.

Those residents who don’t have curbside trash pickup, or who miss the deadline, can drop their trees, without charge, at any of the following locations until Jan. 4:

• A. Lua Wood Recycling, 18938 Mermack Ave., Lake Elsinore;

• B.P. John Recycling, 28700 Matthews Road, Menifee;

• Burrtec Recycle Center, 41-800 Corporate Way, Palm Desert;

• Burrtec/nelson Transfer Station, 1830 Agua Mansa Road, Riverside;

• Badlands Landfill, 31125 Ironwood Ave., Moreno Valley; and

• Lamb Canyon Landfill, 16411 Lamb Canyon Road, Beaumont.

More information available www.rcwaste.org/ wasteguide/holiday. is at