Christmas Tree Recycling
By: H. York
Updated: January 2, 2009
It’s time to ditch the tinsel! The holidays are officially over, but before you drag your tree to the side of the road, we've got a greener alternative. Why not recycle your tree instead?
A crew from Akins Nursery dropped leftover Christmas trees off for recycling at Lee Hedges Stadium in Shreveport. They know the trees will have a new life along the Louisiana coast.
"It keeps the coastal waters from washing the banks out, and that's a good thing,” said Johnnie Ruffin of Akins Nursery.
The recycled trees will go to Grand Isle, Louisiana, where they'll be used to prevent coastal erosion.
"They create a kind of fence to help stop erosion or at least lessen it. We lose about a football field of coastal land every thirty minutes,” said Katherine Lovewell, a volunteer with shrevCORPS.
Once sediment builds over the Christmas tree fence, marsh grasses are planted on top.
"We see it as one natural resource helping to protect another natural resource; our valuable coastline in south Louisiana,” said Lee Jeter, shrevCORPS Project Manager.
The process it seems to be working.
"After the last two hurricanes in south Louisiana, the areas where we had built hurricane fences where maintained a lot better than the areas that didn't have the hurricane fences,” added Jeter.
Before you can recycle your tree, you need to remove all the tinsel, lights, and ornaments. You can drop you tree off for recycling at Lee Hedges Stadium through January 3rd, and at the Bossier City Recycling Center anytime until the end of January.
A crew from Akins Nursery dropped leftover Christmas trees off for recycling at Lee Hedges Stadium in Shreveport. They know the trees will have a new life along the Louisiana coast.
"It keeps the coastal waters from washing the banks out, and that's a good thing,” said Johnnie Ruffin of Akins Nursery.
The recycled trees will go to Grand Isle, Louisiana, where they'll be used to prevent coastal erosion.
"They create a kind of fence to help stop erosion or at least lessen it. We lose about a football field of coastal land every thirty minutes,” said Katherine Lovewell, a volunteer with shrevCORPS.
Once sediment builds over the Christmas tree fence, marsh grasses are planted on top.
"We see it as one natural resource helping to protect another natural resource; our valuable coastline in south Louisiana,” said Lee Jeter, shrevCORPS Project Manager.
The process it seems to be working.
"After the last two hurricanes in south Louisiana, the areas where we had built hurricane fences where maintained a lot better than the areas that didn't have the hurricane fences,” added Jeter.
Before you can recycle your tree, you need to remove all the tinsel, lights, and ornaments. You can drop you tree off for recycling at Lee Hedges Stadium through January 3rd, and at the Bossier City Recycling Center anytime until the end of January.
