Christmas trees set up at Lethbridge City Hall (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Christmas Tree Collection taking place in Lethbridge on January 11

Dec 22, 2019 | 6:00 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge is once again offering a free, environmentally friendly way for residents to dispose of their Christmas trees.

For the past 26 years, the city has partnered with a local youth group for the Christmas Tree Collection Program. This holiday season, the initiative will take place on January 11, 2020.

Residents are asked to strip their Christmas tree of all decorations and place them by their regular garbage collection site (front of residence or alleyway – but away from blue and black carts) by 7:00 a.m. on January 11.

The local partnering youth group then heads out across Lethbridge to collect the trees.

Raquel Burston, an outreach assistant with the City of Lethbridge’s Waste and Recycling department said over the last 20-plus years, they have recycled around 1.5 million kilograms – roughly 80,000 Christmas trees – thanks to the campaign.

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“If something does happen, say the tree gets missed, then you can call 311 between January 13 and the 17 and we will deal with that for you,” Burston said, in the event your tree doesn’t get picked up.

“However, if the tree was not picked up because those decorations were still on or it wasn’t put out in time, unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about that, but for sure, if there’s human error on our part, we will come back and pick it up.”

Burston said if you don’t have a chance or don’t want to participate, there are other ways to dispose of your tree following the holiday.

“What they can do is they can use one of our large item service pick-ups. Every resident has two of those a year. Unfortunately, in that case, it’s just going to go to the landfill, it won’t be a part of the recycling, so we really want to try and make sure we get those trees recycled and get them out there,” she said.

Another option is bringing the tree to the landfill yourself but in that case, like the large item pick-up, trees will not be recycled.

The collected trees are diverted from the landfill and are chipped to environmentally friendly mulch. Mulch will be available for free on a first-come, first-serve basis while supply lasts at Peenaquim Park in Lethbridge.

This year, the city has teamed up with the Girl Guides and Pathfinders. The event will also serve as a fundraising activity for the group.

“We want to make sure that we’re being a community and that we are looking for those opportunities to give those young people some different activities and some things they can do to get involved in our community,” Burston said.

“Volunteering and recycling is all really important, so having youth groups [involved] really reinforces those sorts of things and that’s really important.”

Burston added that Christmas is certainly a busy time for the Waste and Recycling department, but it’s actually the spring cleaning season that’s their busiest time of the year.

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