12/27/05 What to do w/ leftover Christmas tree?

For those Northwest residents who prefer the tradition of a fresh cut Christmas tree, they have some choices to make. The first one is now that Christmas is over, when do the decorations come off and when does the tree itself come down? Some people already have taken down their tree, while others will wait until after the New Year to do so. After that comes the choice of what to do with that tree? Well, not that long ago, about a decade or so, the custom was to haul the tree to the nearest dump or trash where it was disposed of at the landfill or burn facility. These days the waste collector may still take that tree away but it most likely will not end up in the dump. In fact, according to Buzz Warren of the National Christmas Tree Association, about ninety per cent of all fresh cut Christmas trees are now recycled in some form or fashion. WARREN: There are recycling programs in every major city, most smaller cities, counties, all over the country. Those trees are recycled. They're chipped, they're used as mulch, they're used as walking and running paths, they're used as erosion control. And one might say that that is the end of the story as far as uses for recycled Christmas trees. Wrong. While several of the mentioned examples are beneficial to conservation and beautification efforts, Warren can offer other methods of recycling. One is a personal example for the Kansas City Missouri based Christmas tree farmer. WARREN: I have a number of trees that are recycled every year by a group in Kansas City that take these trees and they put weights on them and they sink them in lakes around Kansas City and it improves the habitat for fish. A landlocked example of the same theme is taking that Christmas tree, setting it up out in your backyard, and voila, an instant bird feeder that attracts several birds for viewing. If you have a way to store that Christmas tree until next year, wait until next December to strip the needles from the tree, paint it white, mount it on a stand outside your residence, add lights, and you have a unique, yet beautiful Christmas decoration and display. Now some people may just say, "Why not just burn the old tree?" And for some families, the tradition is to burn the old tree in the fireplace as part of a Twelfth night ceremony. The problem with that according to fire safety experts is the pitch and resin on the tree is still fresh. The fire hazard created by that is flying sparks from the burning tree. Such sparks could even go as far up as over the chimney and onto the rooftop of a person's house, let alone across a room.