BUCKTOWN — The deadline to dump your Christmas tree at a city-run recycling drop off spot has now passed — but procrastinators still are leaving their trees around the city at will, in parks and on curbs.
"People think they can take trees to parks and they will magically disappear. Please encourage people not to discard trees willy-nilly," urged Steve Jensen, president of the Bucktown Community Organization, a neighborhood group that made tree recycling easier for residents by taking trucks full of trees to the nearest city recycling site in Humboldt Park.
Early Thursday, Jensen said he was driving by Walsh Park, 1722 N. Ashland Ave., when he saw several trees dumped near the entrance.
Sara McGann, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation, said that workers ended up removing the discarded Christmas trees in Walsh Park "as a courtesy" and mulched the trees.
"There are no more 'designated' recycling areas for holiday trees; our crews did final sweeps these past few days to pick up any trees that were dropped off late," McGann said, adding, "We want people to understand we had [free tree recycling] from Jan. 3rd to 21st. We don't have the manpower to go beyond that."
So, if you still have a tree, you need to put it out with your trash. It doesn't need to be actually be in the bin, just near it, Streets and San said.
The city recycled 20,753 trees this year at its 23 recycling centers, which is almost 1,000 more than last year and the most since the program began in 1990, McGann said.
When asked "What can people do if they’ve missed the deadline and still need to throw out their tree?" McGann replied, "They can find another way to recycle it or dispose of it in the regular refuse. The Department of Streets and Sanitation urges residents to look for the holiday tree recycling dates for 2018."
