The City of Sanford encourages residents to recycle their live Christmas trees and wreaths after the holidays. If the City picks up your garbage, the solid waste crews will collect it during your regular yard waste pickup day.
When you are ready to dispose of your natural Christmas tree, place it with your limb pile. The leaf and limb crews will collect and recycle all Christmas trees at our compost facility.
“Once it comes here, we're going to compost it and grind it, and it will eventually be wood chips,” explained Ebony McLean, Facilities & Beautification Coordinator.
To recycle their live Christmas trees, residents are asked to do the following:
- Remove all decorations, including tinsel, nails, lights, ornaments, bags, and stands.
- Leave it on the ground with your limb pile on your regular yard waste collection day.
- Place it at the curb the night before your regularly scheduled collection day or before 7 a.m. on your collection day.
Decorated natural Christmas trees will not be collected, as they can damage equipment and contaminate wood chip grindings.
The collection of Christmas trees will begin as early as Christmas Day and continue until residents are ready to dispose of their natural trees. There's no end date for the collection.
What about artificial trees?
Artificial trees cannot be recycled. If you need to dispose of an artificial tree, place it with your bulk trash. The limb pile is designated specifically for natural trees. While stripping the artificial tree is unnecessary, removing the ornaments and lights is best to prevent tangling in the machine.
In the fiscal year 2023-2024, the City of Sanford collected 7,743,600 pounds of limbs and 6,238,000 pounds of leaves. The City operates its compost facility at the Public Works Service Center, where these limbs and leaves are recycled to produce high-quality wood chips and leaf compost for the public.
Currently, the City of Sanford provides free wood chips to the community. Residents can also buy compost for a fee. To request these, residents can visit the Public Works Service Center at 601 N. 5th Street in Sanford or call 919-775-8247.
For more information about solid waste collection, visit our website. For details on wood chips and leaf compost, see more here.