It is tree pick up week in Medford - January 6 through 10, 2014. Medford residents' Christmas trees are picked up by Waste Management and handled the same way they handle yard waste during the summer. What this means for you is NO plastic bags. It also means no decorations and no tinsel.
Last year Waste Management told us:
Please remove everything from your tree, as tinsel, lights, decorations and plastic bags are not compostable. Do not put your tree in a plastic bag; it is Waste Management’s policy to not pick up trees in plastic bags.
If you find carrying a Christmas Tree out of your house very messy, and you have discovered that using a large plastic bag/plastic wrap to carry it out really saves on the housekeeping, I have a solution for you: once you get the tree to the curb, take a knife and slit the bag up the side. Then roll the tree out of the bag leaving the tree and tuck the bag into your garbage can.
If you miss tree pickup, please do not burn your tree. Burning yard waste is illegal in Medford. Burning unseasoned wood (like Christmas Trees) is particularly bad for chimneys and can cause chimney fires.
Waste Management composts our yard waste and chips and composts our Christmas Trees. This is why it is important to put out yard waste only, not logs, plastic bags or other random stuff.
For more environmental information about Christmas Trees and their disposal, see End Of The Line For Christmas Trees on our personal blog.
Happy New Year!
Alicia Hunt
Director of Energy & Environment
City of Medford
