Region : Recycling for Trees

The La Canada Flintgridge City Council on Monday unanimously approved a free Christmas tree collection program to run from Saturday to Jan. 5.

Residents can take their trees to the parking lot at Foothill Boulevard and Verdugo Road from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

On weekends, the Los Angeles County Fire Department will operate a mulching machine to break trees into chips for use as cover at Scholl Canyon landfill, or residents can take the chips home to use as mulch.

During the week, La Canada Disposal, one of the city’s two waste haulers, will provide dumping bins at the lot for trees. The company will also pick up trees at curbside.

Other cities are offering to recycle Christmas trees over the next few weeks.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and the County Department of Parks and Recreation are co-sponsoring a Christmas tree recycling program in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Fire Department Explorer Program.

Residents are asked to remove tree stands, nails and decorations, including tinsel, from their trees and take the trees to any of four locations: Crescenta Valley County Park in Glendale; the Eaton Canyon Nature Center in Pasadena; Schabarum Regional County Park in Rowland Heights, or Frank G. Bonelli County Park in San Dimas.

The program will operate from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jan. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19 at all four locations. For more information, call the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works Recycling Hotline at (800) 552-5218 from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

In Highland Park, residents can recycle Christmas trees at the Highland Park Senior Citizen Center, 6200 York Blvd., Los Angeles, Saturday through Jan. 4, except New Year’s Day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Residents are asked to remove the stand, decorations and tinsel. For more information, call (800) 248-9726.