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Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008

Bibb abounds in places to recycle Christmas trees

If Middle Georgians already are over the yuletide season, there are plenty of places in Bibb County to dispose of those brown-around-the-edges Christmas trees.

If people, however, want to hang on to their tree a bit longer, don’t worry. The tree recycling here lasts through Jan. 10.

Those who wait until the second Saturday in January and drop off their Christmas trees — no artificial ones, please — at Central City Park can get a cherry blossom seedling in exchange for the tree, said Stacy Campbell, marketing director for the Cherry Blossom Festival and Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful. Those two groups run the tree recycling program with the city of Macon.

On the 10th, tree recyclers also can receive mulch — made from chipped up Christmas trees — for their gardens, she said.

“We feel like it’s been a very successful program, providing the opportunity to recycle your Christmas tree and get a seedling,” Campbell said. “The community support has been so great, we’ve teamed up with the city’s Public Works Department to do electronic recycling as well.”

Jan. 10 in front of the old driver’s license building at Central City Park, people can recycle old electronics in addition to their Christmas trees.

Among the items that can be recycled: monitors, telephones, cell phones, batteries, power cables, vacuums, ink cartridges, transformers, LCD monitors, circuit boards, keyboards/mice, speakers, cameras, projectors, toner cartridges, remote controls, PCs, DVD players, VCRs, copy machines, microwaves, networking equipment, hubs, PDAs, modems, scanners, fax machines, mixed and hard drives, servers and televisions. There is a $10 processing charge for TVs.

But not everything will be accepted. Among the items not eligible for recycling at the event are refrigerators, dishwashers, fluorescent tubes, bio-waste, washing machines, mercury-containing devices, hazardous chemicals, laundry dryers, light bulbs and hazardous materials.

When recycling trees, make sure the decorations are removed before the trees are dropped off, Campbell said.

Jack Cameron, owner of Cameron’s Greenhouse in Fort Valley, dropped off a truckload of trees at Central City Park on Friday. Cameron sells trees at the local farmers’ market and had about a dozen left over.

“We had a pretty fair year,” he said.

Campbell said all 11 sites in Bibb County will be open until Jan. 9. After that, people will only be able to drop off their trees behind Luther Williams Field on Jan. 10.

To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.