Recycle Other Plant Materials

Recycling Christmas trees may make people feel good, but as an environmentally concerned gardener, I wonder why this is not done for the remaining 11 months of the year?

I often have no choice but to dispose of brush and tree trimming at the landfill in Oxnard. Most days, there are three or four other gardeners also dumping perfectly chipable plant materials.

If there was someone working a shredder there, I for one would haul out far more than I ever haul in in the first place. Our daily garden trimmings certainly represent a far greater volume than a once a year Christmas tree collection--and it doesn’t need the special handling the Christmas tree collection will require.

Give gardeners a break on the dump fees in proportion to the amount of wood chips they haul back out of the landfill, and I’m convinced a lot more of us would start using chips as ground covers, water-saving mulches and soil amendments.

I personally prefer a mulch without the tinsel.

LEN EVANS, Ventura