County to Recycle Yule Trees After Holidays

Forget asphalt. It would be out of place. And gravel, well, it’s just too expensive. Officials at Lake Casitas plan to cover a 4-acre parking lot with something different: Christmas trees, thousands of them.

Under a county-sponsored program, some Christmas trees collected from households in the county will be ground up and sent to the lake area as a showing of post-holiday goodwill.

Others will be used on landscaping projects throughout the county. Cities--including Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Santa Paula--plan to use some of the chips in composting programs.

Officials say it’s a new twist in the county’s recycling efforts.

“This way, we’re able to save landfill space, and we save valuable resources,” said Lorraine Timmons, an analyst for the Ventura County Solid Waste Management District. “People feel a lot better knowing their Christmas trees are going to be recycled and used locally.”

Becky Radonich, a management assistant for the city of Camarillo, added: “It sort of completes each citizen’s circle of responsibility. We’re using things that were purchased in the county and turning it around for county use.”

When people buy Christmas trees, Timmons said, they will be reminded by vendors to participate in the recycling effort. She said most of the cities in the county are considering first-time Christmas tree-recycling programs.

Timmons said officials are hoping that half of the 90,000 Christmas trees purchased in the county--enough to fill 67 10-ton trash trucks--will be collected in special bins or through local curbside programs.

The trees will be ground into 3-inch-long wood chips at the Bailard and Simi Valley landfills, among other places.

“The importance is to find a productive use for what normally goes into a landfill,” said John Elwell, Camarillo director of community services. “We’ve been landfilling a lot of things we don’t need to landfill.”

Richard Hajas, assistant general manager of the Casitas Water District, said wood chips are in demand for the new parking lot at the lake.

“It’s far less expensive than gravel, and it looks nicer than blacktop,” Hajas said. “It will look just like an outdoor rural area.”