Staff Writer

Dec. 28, 2000 10 PM

Now that Christmas is over it’s time to drag that Christmas tree ­ falling needles and all ­ to the curb.

Beginning January 3, the Troy Recycling Center employees will be picking up the dried out trees for recycling.

"It will take, probably, a month to get them all," said Bill Rice Sr., who oversees the city’s recycling program.

But, each one left by the curb will indeed be picked up, eventually.

"We plan to recycle every Christmas tree in Troy if they’ll put it out on the curb," Rice said. "Troy is the only city I know of that recycles every tree put at the curb."

All those trees collected will be held at the landfill for anyone who would like to use them.

Remember the old saying, "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure." Well, in this case, the trash benefits the fish.

Many like Kenny Campbell pick up loads of the once-decorated trees and dump them into ponds and lakes to create fishing reefs.

Rice said Campbell "picked up a big load for his ponds" last year and is waiting to get this year’s load.

"We couldn’t do it without him," Rice said of Campbell’s efforts to reuse the Christmas trees.

In addition to people like Campbell who use them to create fishing reefs, others chip them up for use in landscaping.

Rice said Raymond Sexton chips up the leftover trees for use by the city of Troy’s grounds crew.