This holiday season, give a gift to the environment—reduce, reuse and recycle. Start by recycling your live Christmas tree, old electronics and unwanted holiday lights.
Town of North Hempstead residents can leave live Christmas trees curbside on normal yard waste collection days for the first two weeks in January. Be sure to remove all decorations, lights and ornaments first.
“Recycling your old Christmas tree is a great way to dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner,” said Supervisor Judi Bosworth. “Since Christmas trees are biodegradable, they can be repurposed into mulch. This saves other trees from being cut down while reducing the space it would take up in a landfill.”
Additionally, Bosworth encourages residents to recycle their holiday lights and unwanted electronics. Under New York State law, e-waste may no longer be disposed of curbside but must be brought to one of the town’s drop-off sites.
Residents can dispose energy-gulping holiday lights until the end of January, and other unwanted electronics on Sundays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at North Hempstead’s residential drop-off site at 999 West Shore Rd. in Roslyn. E-waste can also be disposed of weekdays at North Hempstead’s Solid Waste Management Authority at 802 West Shore Rd. in Port Washington, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding holidays.
Collected electronic waste is hauled off by the town’s EPA certified e-waste recycler, who disassembles the items, salvages the usable parts, separates out potentially damaging materials and recycles the balance.
For more information on Tree-cycling, call 311 or visit www.northhempsteadny.gov.
