Broward County Chip-A-Tree program saves more than a hundred tons from going to landfills

The numbers are in: The Parks and Recreation Division’s 2009-10 Chip-A-Tree initiative recycled 9,225 holiday trees, representing approximately 115 tons of material that would otherwise have gone to landfills. Those numbers are down only slightly from the previous year’s totals of 9,943 trees and 124 tons, a strong indicator that the program remains successful despite the recessionary economy. Many municipalities also now offer their own curbside pickup of holiday trees.

The free annual program encourages Broward County residents to remove all decorations from their holiday trees (no decorated trees are accepted), then bring the trees to a participating park – there were 13 this year – where they are chipped and used for landscaping throughout the county park system. There is a limit of two trees per vehicle, artificial trees are not accepted, and no commercial vehicles or garbage trucks are allowed.

This past season’s program ran from Saturday, December 26, 2009, through Sunday, January 24, 2010, giving people ample time to take advantage of those after-the-holidays sales before hauling their trees to a park.

Short URL: http://browardnetonline.com/?p=6594

Posted by Andrea Freygang on Feb 10 2010. Filed under Broward County, Environmental, Holiday, Local news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.