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We don't want to be complete Grinches, but the days following Christmas in New York are usually riddled with the thoughts "Exactly how days in a row can I eat nothing but cookies? and also "What the hell am I going to do with this old tree?"
Now, we can't help you with the cookie craze — if anything, we're only going to point you to even more of the city's best cookies — but we can help you with that admittedly unjolly tree removal. Whether you want to get rid of that spruce right on December 26 or are looking to part ways the Feast of the Epiphany-style on January 6, here's everything you need to know about safely and sustainably disposing of your Christmas tree in NYC this year.
How to recycle your Christmas tree in NYC
1. Participate in Mulchfest at an NYC park
One of our favorite yuletide traditions, Mulchfest allows New Yorkers to bring (okay, drag) those Christmas trees down to their nearby participating NYC Park (check Mulchfest locations here), where the parks department will chop it up into wood chips that will be repurposed to nourish trees and make NYC even greener. (A whopping 52,569 trees were recycled last year.
Tree drop-offs are available during park hours between December 26 and January 11 — just remember to remove all ornaments, garlands, tinsel and other holiday paraphernalia before dropping it off.
2. Compost it curbside
If you don't want to offload your Christmas tree manually, you can have the NYC Department of Sanitation collect it curbside. DSNY will be picking up trees on regularly scheduled recycling/composting days, which occur weekly. (The specific day varies by borough; for more information, visit DSNY's Curbside Composting website. There is also helpful info re: holiday wreaths, artificial trees and more).
Again, remove all decorations, stands, etcetera, and make sure not to bag your tree or wrap it in plastic. Simply place it at the curb like other compostables. Your tree will then get chipped and turned into compost for NYC's green spaces.
3. Other ways to recycle your tree
You can reach out to your local community gardens or urban farms to see if they'll be accepting Christmas trees for mulch, animal feed, habitat material and so on. Also, if you miss the above drop-off windows for your real tree, you can hire a private service to come pick up the old pine and recycle it for a fee.