SF Christmas tree curbside collection, recycling to begin Tuesday
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (BCN) - Christmas is over and San Francisco's streets will soon be decorated in the traditional post-holiday manner with rows of discarded, dried out Christmas trees, stripped bare of their ornaments and lined up at the curb for removal.
Starting Tuesday, however, those dead branches will find new life, when city garbage and recycling trucks begin collecting them for chipping and conversion into mulch.
Recycling-conscious city residents can put their trees out with their blue bins for removal by Recology trucks starting Jan. 2 and continuing through Jan. 12.
Trees, however, must be cleaned of all tinsel, decorations, stands, lights and plastic bags, and trees over 6 feet tall should be cut in half. Recology crews will collect recycling first and then return for trees, officials said.
Last January, San Francisco recycled 498 tons of Christmas trees, which city officials described as the equivalent of two Boeing 787 Dreamliners.