Christmas is here and the decorations are festive and lovely to see. But what about the removal of those holiday trees as the holidays fade into memories? Who will collect the “used” trees and where will they end up? In Great Neck, the major areas of the community that display Christmas trees each year are mainly concentrated in areas within the Town of North Hempstead and in certain areas of the Old Village (the Village of Great Neck). Both the town and the Old Village have specific procedures of old Christmas tree removals.
In the Town of North Hempstead (which includes the unincorporated areas of Great Neck), trees will be accepted for curbside removal after the holidays. To dispose of Christmas trees, residents can leave them curbside on normal yard waste pick-up days for the first two weeks of January.
A town spokesman told the Great Neck Record that the tree removal schedule will be posted on the town website (www.northhempsteadny.gov) as well as on the town television stations (channel 18 and 63 on Cable and 46 on Verizon).
Within the town, after trees are picked up, they are sent to the town’s transfer station in Port Washington and then recycled. Much of this recycled product is used for mulch and gardening materials. Residents can dump 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, 999 West Shore Road in Roslyn.
In the Old Village, the trees are picked up by sanitation workers within the Village’s Department of Public Works. A resident can call the village (516-482-0019) for a pick-up after the holidays. The trees are brought to the village’s Middle Neck Road Department of Public Works site, where they are “chipped” and then used for mulch for village areas. The Old Village has just under 10,000 residents and about 100 trees are collected each year.
The other eight Great Neck incorporated villages (Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock and Thomaston) all contract with private sanitation companies. Residents should call their village hall to find out when Christmas tree removals are scheduled.
