With the end of Christmas comes the process of disposing of old Christmas trees. The City of Troy is making that process a little easier on citizens this year by providing a Christmas tree recycling program free-of-charge to residents of the city.

Vaughn Daniels, director of the Troy Public Works Department, said recycling your Christmas tree is as easy as putting the tree out on your curb, “For the recycling program we have, all you have to do is put the tree out on your curb on your regular garbage day,” Daniels said. “We’ll be recycling trees for the next couple weeks. We take them out to one of our facilities on Hudson St. and store them there. Anyone who would like to get one of the old trees can come pick them up there. We have already had people inquire about acquiring the trees for their ponds.”

The Public Works Department will properly dispose of any trees that do not get picked up. “If the trees don’t get picked up, we will shred them or put them in a landfill,” Daniels said. “We want to try and encourage everyone in the city of Troy to take part in our recycling programs. This is something we like to do every year at Christmas. It’s part of our process in the Public Works Department. People set their trees out anyway, and we pick them up, but this is a way for us to help the community. It helps people who have fish ponds, and it keeps the streets looking nice.”

Recycling Christmas trees is not the only recycling service the Troy Public Works Department provides. “We are still asking people to call 566-0177 to request recycling carts,” Daniels said. “The recycling carts are 96 gallons, and we ask people to put their recycling in the carts. The carts provided have an RFID tag, and that gives us the ability to track who is recycling. We are trying to get a count of how many people in the city recycle and get a good idea of who recycles. We want to get to a point where everyone in the city is recycling.”

Recycling does not just help the environment, it also helps the city’s bottom line. “When people recycle, it decreases the amount of materials that the city has to send to a landfill,” Daniels said. “It helps to save our natural resources. Whatever recycling materials there are—whether they be plastic or glass or aluminum—that is space that isn’t occupied in a landfill. Recycling more decreases the cost that the city has to pay for waste disposal. It makes the department a little more cost efficient. It also saves the taxpayers money.”

People interested in acquiring a recycling cart can call 566-0177 to order one. The carts are provided free-of-charge by the City of Troy.