Give your Christmas trees new life

The hol­i­days have come and gone. If you cel­e­brate Christ­mas, and with a live tree, chances are your conifer is start­ing to drop nee­dles all over your liv­ing room. It’s time to take down the lights, the orna­ments, and the tin­sel and put the tree on the curb. Right? Wrong!

Well, half right. It is time to take off the lights, orna­ments, and tin­sel. But don’t put your tree on the curb! When you do that, the tree will end up in a land­fill with reg­u­lar garbage. City of Pitts­burgh and Alleghe­ny Coun­ty res­i­dents have lots of oppor­tu­ni­ties to make sure their tree has a good sec­ond life as pine mulch (which City of Pitts­burgh res­i­dents will be able to get for free from Pub­lic Works this spring).

Both the City of Pitts­burgh and Alleghe­ny Coun­ty have increased the num­ber of recy­cling sites this year, mak­ing it even eas­i­er for you to make an envi­ron­men­tal­ly-friend­ly choice for your ready-to-leave-home Christ­mas tree.

City of Pittsburgh

Decem­ber 26 — Jan­u­ary 26
All City of Pitts­burgh loca­tions are open 24/7 unless oth­er­wise noted

Brighton Heights
Jack Stack park­ing lot
600 Brighton Woods Road

Brook­line
Brook­line Recre­ation Center
1400 Oakridge Street

Deutschtown
Sue Mur­ray Swim­ming Pool park­ing lot
Cor­ner of Cedar and Stock­ton Avenues
(enter off Stockton)

Friend­ship
Baum Grove Parklet
400 Roup Avenue
(Off Fair­mont Avenue)

High­land Park
High­land Park Swim­ming Pool/volleyball court park­ing lot
(Rough­ly 151 Lake Drive)

Elliott
Open year round 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Mon­day through Saturday
5th Divi­sion of Pub­lic Works
1330 Has­sler Street
(Off Her­schel & Steuben near Her­schel Park)

Hazel­wood
Open year round 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Mon­day through Saturday
3rd Divi­sion of Pub­lic Works
Melanch­ton Avenue off 5200 block of Sec­ond Avenue

Home­wood West
Open year round 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Mon­day through Saturday
2nd Divi­sion of Pub­lic Works
North Dal­las Avenue at Hamil­ton Avenue

Alleghe­ny County

Decem­ber 26 — Jan­u­ary 14
All Alleghe­ny Coun­ty loca­tions are open 8 a.m. to dusk unless oth­er­wise noted

Boyce Park
Soc­cer fields park­ing lot

Deer Lakes Park
Vet­er­ans Shel­ter park­ing lot

Har­ri­son Hills Park
Park­ing lot at inter­sec­tion of Chip­munk and Cot­ton­tail Drives

Hard­wood Acres Park
Man­sion park­ing lot

North Park
Swim­ming pool park­ing lot

Round Hill Park
Alfal­fa Shel­ter park­ing lot

Set­tlers Cab­in Park
Wave pool park­ing lot

South Park
Wave pool park­ing lot

White Oak Park
Chest­nut Shel­ter park­ing lot

That wraps it up! Con­tact the City of Pitts­burgh or Alleghe­ny Coun­ty for ques­tions. And recy­cle Christ­mas trees!