ATLANTA — As the holiday season wraps up, some of you may be taking down your Christmas trees.
While there are certainly some families who have plastic trees that they just pack up for the year, Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Eboni Deon has the options you need for getting rid of the tree, if you bought a real one this year.
A real Christmas tree can bring joy and great fragrance when it first comes home, but when the holiday are over it can be a hassle to get rid of it.
John Livaditis, the manager at Big John’s Christmas Trees in Buckhead says you should get the tree out of your home and you should think about having them mulched.
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Livaditis says his company offers a tree pickup service for trees sold at their lot and they take the trees to have them mulched, too.
“At some point in mid-January, the local tree removal company comes and they mulch everything, so at that point that tree gets its second life,” Livaditis said.
However, that’s not the only way to go.
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Lead Ranger at Allatoona Lake Chris Purvis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said not only can you get your tree mulched, you can take it to be recycled in nature too.
“If you can be responsible, whether it’s taking it to Home Depot or bringing it up to a lake for like, a fish habitat,” you should, Purvis told Channel 2 Action News.
He said Allatoona Lake welcomes all real trees for their Christmas Tree fish habitat program until mid-January. They’re not particular about the size or type of tree, but draw the line at ornaments.
“They have to be totally clean trees,” Purvis said. “We will put the trees in the lakebed at reconstructed sites.”
There are multiple tree drop off locations around the lake, and the trees get anchored down while lake levels are low.
“When the water comes up, it creates fish habitat,” Purvis said.
He said it improves fishing in the area and the trees also become fish attractors.
Not only do the trees protect smaller fish, “they also create spawning areas for fish, so this is extremely beneficial for fish in those areas,” Purvis explained.
He said the more trees, the better to help replenish areas in need.
When the holidays are over, there are ways to get more use out of the tree when you return it to nature.
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