The City of San Diego recently launched its 45th annual Christmas Tree Recycling Program, which runs through Wednesday, Jan. 23. This recycling program provides 16 drop-off locations available to city residents only. Local drop-off locations are: La Jolla – Kate Sessions Memorial Park, corner of Mt. Soledad Road and Loring Street;
Mission Bay – Seaworld Drive at Pacific Highway; Ocean Beach – Robb Field Recreation Center, 2525 Bacon St.;
University City – Swanson Pool, 3585 Governor Drive.
“Beginning Dec. 26, we encourage residents to bring their clean, undecorated Christmas trees to any of our drop-off locations around the city,” said Environmental Services Department director Mario X. Sierra. “Recycling trees helps reduce the amount of waste going into our landfill, and it helps the City meet sustainability goals by converting the trees into high-quality mulch and compost at the Miramar Landfill Greenery.”
In addition to the drop-off locations, residents with curbside yard waste recycling service can recycle their Christmas trees by cutting them into 3-foot sections and placing them in their yard waste containers along with their regular yard waste. Residents unable to cut their trees for manual collection or who cannot fit the tree into their yard waste container should recycle their tree at drop-off locations or place their tree at the curb next to their yard waste containers. All foreign materials must be removed before placing trees are placed inside a yard waste container or at the curb.
City of San Diego residents can also recycle their Christmas trees for free at the Miramar Greenery located at the Miramar Landfill, 5180 Convoy St. The Greenery is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The landfill is closed on Sundays and New Year’s Day.
Only clean trees and flocked (artificially snow-covered) trees are accepted at City recycling locations. Before dropping off your tree, residents should remove all tree stands, lights, ornaments, tinsel and non-recyclable materials. Please do not dump any other items at the drop-off locations.
Clean trees left at drop-off locations will be recycled into high quality mulch and compost sold at the Miramar Greenery. City residents can self-load up to two cubic yards of compost or mulch for free at the Greenery throughout the year.
For County residents, the City is once again partnering with the nonprofit, I Love a Clean San Diego, to share information about drop-off locations around the county. County residents can look up the nearest drop-off location to their home at WasteFreeSD.org.
Trees from commercial tree lots or nonprofit fundraising projects are not accepted at City drop-off locations except at the Miramar Greenery for a nominal fee.
Additional information about the City’s Christmas Tree Recycling Program is available by visiting www.recyclingworks.com or by calling the Environmental Services Department at 858-694-7000. For information on mulch and compost produced at the Miramar Greenery, call the Miramar Landfill at 858-492-6100.
