Strip the tree completely
Lights, ornaments, hooks, garland, and the metal stand do not belong in a chipper. Remove all of them before you leave home. Bag the lights for an electronics or scrap-metal path if your area accepts them, and put broken glass ornaments in a rigid container for trash. A flocked tree, a tree coated in fake snow, or a tree with tinsel woven into the branches may be refused at a yard-waste drop. Call and ask about flocking before you assume the holiday program will take it. An artificial tree is plastic and metal. It does not go in the brush pile. Ask about bulky plastics or trash for that one.
Cut it to the length staff can handle
Many holiday drops want the trunk short enough to feed a grinder and want branches free of wire. Cut the tree in the driveway, not at the entrance gate. Shake out loose needles into a bag so you are not leaving a trail on the road. If the tree is frozen to a stand full of water, thaw and empty the stand first. Water in a metal stand will spill in the car. Keep the tree covered or tied if you haul it on a roof only with proper straps. Better, use the bed of a truck or the interior if the tree is small and bagged.
Use the holiday rule that is actually posted
Cities often switch a tree from a yard-waste item to ordinary trash after a seasonal program ends. The only reliable source is the current notice from the site or the hauler. Read it the week you go. Do not rely on last year's habit. At a transfer station, tell the attendant you have a bare natural tree and ask whether it belongs in yard waste. If they send you to trash, follow that. A tree in the wrong pile contaminates a compost batch. Take the stand and the ornament bag to the bays assigned to them.
Before you go
- Remove lights, ornaments, tinsel, flocking questions, and the stand.
- Confirm whether a bare natural tree is yard waste or trash this week.
- Cut and tie the tree so it is safe to haul.
- Unload it in the pile the attendant names.
Leaving tinsel and light strands on the tree and tossing it on a clean brush pile.
Questions people ask
Does a wreath follow the same rule?
A plain evergreen wreath might, after wire and decorations are removed. Ask. A wreath on a metal frame is mixed material and may need to be trash.
Can the stand go in recycling?
Only if it is a material your recycling program lists. A water-filled stand is often metal or plastic bulky waste. Empty it first.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.