NOLA residents encouraged to recycle Christmas trees for coastal restoration

JAN. 11 UPDATE: Orleans Parish residents who receive solid waste collection services by the City’s contractors Richard’s Disposal and Metro Service Group, in service areas 1 and 2, are encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees.

Residents are asked to place their trees curbside before 5 a.m. on their regularly scheduled collection day between Jan. 10-15. Properties in the French Quarter or DDD, serviced by Empire Services, should place their trees curbside before 4 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 13.

Only natural, unflocked trees that are free of tree stands and all trimmings (decorations, ornaments, tinsel and lights) will be collected for recycling.

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The City of New Orleans is continuing to offer its Christmas tree recycling program in an effort to restore and protect the Louisiana coastline.

According to a media release sent last week, Orleans Parish residents who receive solid waste collection services by the City’s contractors Richard’s Disposal and Metro Service Group, in service areas 1 and 2, are encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees.

Residents are asked to place their trees curbside before 5 a.m. on their regularly scheduled collection day between Jan. 10-15, 2022. Properties in the French Quarter or DDD, serviced by Empire Services, should place their trees curbside before 4 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022.

Only natural, unflocked trees that are free of tree stands and all trimmings (decorations, ornaments, tinsel and lights) will be collected for recycling. Flocked, artificial trees, trees in bags or trees with unremoved trimmings will be collected with garbage and transported to the landfill.

In 2021, more than 5,000 Christmas trees were collected in Orleans Parish after the holidays and then airlifted by the Louisiana National Guard into the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge to create new marsh habitat.

The trees also create important habitat for birds, fish, crabs, crawfish and shrimp.