Upper Green Side

This Weekend: Mulchfest 2007

It’s hard to believe that just 12 years ago most discarded Christmas trees simply went into the normal trash piles and on to landfills. But today, the Parks and Sanitation Departments have teamed up to create “Mulchfest”, where people can bring their old Christmas trees and convert it into woodchips that can be used in gardens, parks or tree beds around the city. Last year, 156,000 Christmas trees were collected and recycled by the City - 8,800 trees through MulchFest.

“Mulchfest provides New Yorkers with the opportunity to complete the lifecycle of holiday trees,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “This program recycles thousands of trees and wreaths and turns them into something useful that contributes to New York’s urban environment.”

Wood chip mulch helps to moderate soil temperatures, retain moisture and prevents weed growth while adding nutrients to the soil.

This weekend, Upper East Side Residents can bring their trees on January 6 and 7, 2007 from 10:00am to 2:00pm to Central Park has a chipping location at E. 106th Street and Fifth Avenue. Carl Schurz Park will offer drop-off service at 86th Street and East End.

Upper West Side residents can drop off their trees at 63rd & 81st Streets and Central Park West  or several locations along Riverside Drive - 79th, 89th, 97th, 106th Street.

See the Manhattan Page of the Mulchfest schedule at the Parks Department website for more details.