Christmas Trees Disposal Curbside 2024
For residents in Brooklyn and Queens, set out your CLEAN trees and wreaths with your other composting on your Curbside Composting collection day.
For all other NYC residents, DSNY will collect clean Christmas trees and wreaths from Friday, January 5, 2024, through Saturday, January 13, 2024 — weather permitting. Christmas trees and wreaths are collected separately from your trash and recycling. They are scouted at the curb to make efficient collection routes. Your tree may not be picked up immediately but will be picked up eventually.
Before your Christmas trees and wreaths can be collected, you MUST:
- Remove ALL lights, ornaments, and tinsel. Remove stands from trees and metal frames and wires from wreaths.
- Make sure they are not wrapped in ANY plastic or placed inside a plastic bag.
- Leave them at the curb between the designated dates (January 5 – 13).
Trees and wreaths are processed as other composting or chipped, mixed with leaves, and recycled into rich compost for NYC’s parks, institutions, and community gardens.
Artificial Trees
Take apart your tree to recycle the base and trunk (pole) with metal, glass, plastic, and cartons on your recycling day. Remove all lights, ornaments and tinsel before placing at the curb.
Otherwise, set it out as garbage on a regular collection day.
Make Your Own Mulch
Use evergreen boughs and branches from your Christmas tree as mulch to enrich the soil in your garden or street tree beds. Just cut off the smaller branches of your Christmas tree and remove the twigs from evergreen boughs. Lay three to four inches of these trimmings over the bare soil around street trees or in your garden. After removing the branches for mulch, you can take your tree to MulchFest or leave it out for our collection.
MulchFest
Remove all ornaments, lights, tinsel, and stands from natural trees and take them to MulchFest for free chipping.
