Officials Plan Pickups for Christmas Trees

The 12 days of Christmas are not over yet, but already thousands of forlorn Christmas trees lie on street curbs, stripped of their holiday splendor, awaiting their final trip to the dump.

Trash companies all over Ventura County are asking residents to carefully follow instructions when they throw away their trees--so that the pines and firs can be reduced to mulch, fertilizer or decorative bark for landscaping.

In Ventura, Christmas tree recycling started six years ago and eventually expanded to the now year-round yard waste program, said Thomas Chiarodit, an administrator for Harrison Industries.

“This used to be a push we just did once a year,” Chiarodit said. “But with the tree program in conjunction with the yard waste program, we are recycling more and more every year.”

For residents of Ventura, Ojai, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and certain portions of the unincorporated areas, residents are asked to put out their Christmas trees on yard waste pickup day, so that they can be recycled. Tinsel and ornaments should be removed.

Christmas tree stands should also be taken off because the metal can break the teeth of the grinding machines. If possible, residents should cut the trees into 4-foot lengths and place them in the yard waste can. Businesses should place their trees in their dumpsters, and apartment dwellers should contact their managers for instructions.

In Oxnard, recycling directors ask residents to strip their trees of ornaments, lights and stands before throwing them away on their normal collection day. If trees are more than 6 feet tall, they should be cut in half. Those who have sprayed flocking--the thick, white substance meant to look like snow--on their trees will have to pay a $3 contamination fee.

“We want clean, green trees,” said Vickie Swainson, secretary for Oxnard’s solid waste program. Christmas tree collection in Oxnard will last from Dec. 30 through Jan. 16.

In Moorpark, residents are asked to remove tinsel and decorations and place their trees at curbside on the normal collection day.

In Fillmore, city public works officials ask residents to deposit their trees at the lot on the corner of Main and Mountain View streets.

In Simi Valley, G.I. Industries asks city residents to cut their trees and put them in their yard waste bins. Otherwise, trash truck drivers will have to get out of their automated trucks and place the trees in the truck manually.

In Port Hueneme, residents can place their trees at curbside by Jan. 17, and the trash trucks will swing through neighborhoods periodically to pick them up.

In Santa Paula, residents are asked to place their trees by the curb for pickup, or take them to the vacant lot on the corner of 12th and Santa Barbara streets to be recycled.