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Christmas Tree Disposal Options

People wanting to keep their Christmas trees out of a landfill have several options in western Kentucky and Tennessee. All of the Christmas tree disposal options require the trees to be completely undecorated.

Paducah residents can drop their trees off at the city’s compost facility on 1560 North 8th St. The facility is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but will be closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. City of Paducah spokesperson Pam Spencer says Paducah residents can leave their trees with their garbage for pick up, but those will probably end up in and landfill.

“More than likely they will go to the landfill because they will be mixed in with the garbage collection,” she says. “It’s harder to separate and take those to the compost facility. So it’s easier if you want to recycle the tree to go ahead and take it to the compost facility yourself.

The trees are added to compost that is available for sale throughout the year.

Dunbar Cove Park in Clarksville also turning discarded Christmas trees into dirt. Park Ranger Adam Neblett says the park is taking trees from Dec. 26 to Jan. 11 and will use the chopped up trees as mulch for the park’s trails.

“The Clarksville Department of Electricity, they volunteer to come out and they chip all the trees up into mulch. And then closer to Earth Day in the spring we use that mulch on our trails,” Neblett says.

Discarded Christmas trees can also be tossed into ponds or lakes for fish protection says Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Paul Rister.

“By throwing a tree in the water there will be algae and small bugs that live on that once it’s in the water,” he says. “So small fish will come there to feed, and, of course, when the small fish are there the big fish will also come there to feed.”

Murray residents who don’t want to cart their tree to Kentucky or Barkley lake can drop them off at the Department of Fish and Wildlife Office at 30 Scenic Acres Dr. anytime after Christmas. Fishery biologist Paul Rister says if no one is at the office, people can toss the trees over the building’s fence and the Department of Fish and Wildlife will drop them into one of the lakes.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.