It does not belong on the real-tree pile
Towns that chip real Christmas trees will not want a metal-and-plastic tree in that pile, and the chipper crew should not have to discover it after the fact. Call the disposal site and ask whether artificial trees are bulky trash. A reuse store might take a clean, working pre-lit tree in its original sections, but a crushed, tangled, or incomplete tree is waste. Search sites by ZIP code or city if you need a candidate, and treat the listing as stale until the site confirms it. Do not burn an artificial tree. The needles are plastic, and the branches are wire. Take the stand off. Metal stands may be small scrap if a yard is already on your route, and plastic stands can go with the tree as bulky plastic if the site agrees.
Lights, ornaments, and loose needles
Remove ornaments, hooks, and tinsel before the tree leaves the house. Those pieces are not part of the disposal load you described. If the tree is pre-lit and an electronics or holiday-light program accepts the light strings, pull them off only if you can do it without shredding the wire into the branches, and ask first. Otherwise leave the lights wound on the sections and tell the site the tree is pre-lit. Bag loose needles. They stick to everything and they are plastic litter once they blow out of the bed. Fold each section the way it was stored, tie the branches in, and bag the section if the bag will hold. A section that springs open in the truck takes the whole bed.
One section at a time
Load the tied sections low, not sticking up as a green sail. Strap the bags. At the site, unload in the bulky trash bay, not the organics area. Tell the attendant it is an artificial tree so nobody points you at the chipping pile. If the site refuses pre-lit trees, ask where the lights should be removed and take the tree back rather than cutting wires in the lane. Pick up a spilled section. A single branch of plastic needles on the scale is litter, and it is your load. The cardboard box the tree came in can be recycled only if it is clean and your program takes that cardboard. A greasy, crushed box can go with the trash.
Before you go
- Ask the site whether artificial trees are bulky trash, and keep them off the real-tree pile.
- Remove ornaments, tie the branches, and bag loose plastic needles.
- Keep light strings on the tree unless a program told you to separate them.
- Strap the sections and unload them in the bulky bay you are assigned.
Tossing a pre-lit artificial tree onto the municipal real-tree chipping pile.
Questions people ask
Can I cut the sections shorter at home?
Yes, if that is the only way they fit, and if you bag the plastic needles and wire ends. Do not cut the tree at the disposal site.
Is a fiber-optic tree different?
Describe it as an artificial tree with a cord and a base. Do not put the electric base in the organics pile or in a bottle-recycling cart.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.