Give Now
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
  • Full Schedule
Watch Live

Environment

San Diego Gives Christmas Trees Second Life

By Ed Joyce / Reporter
Published December 28, 2009 at 3:00 AM PST
This story was published more than 14 years ago.
San Diego Gives Christmas Trees Second Life
You can recycle your old Christmas tree in a way that returns it back to the earth. The City of San Diego's Environmental Services Department offers free tree recycling.

You can recycle your old Christmas tree in a way that returns it back to the earth. The City of San Diego's Environmental Services Department offers free tree recycling.

If you live in San Diego and have curbside yard waste recycling, you can recycle your Christmas tree by leaving it on the curb.

Stephen Grealy is with the city's Environmental Services Department. He says that by recycling trees, you can help reduce the amount of material in the landfill and give the holiday trees a second life.

Advertisement
Become a KPBS sponsor

"We make decorative bark products; we make compost, mulches, and a whole variety of other different types of products," said Grealy. "And the Christmas trees generally get made back into a compost product."

He says green waste, including Christmas trees, makes up more than 20 percent of the material buried in the Miramar landfill.

All tree stands, lights, ornaments and other tree decorations must be removed before recycling. The tree recycling program continues through January 23.

There are also 16 drop-off locations for Christmas trees in San Diego. Click on any neighborhood for a map to the location:

Carmel Valley - Carmel Valley Recreation Center, 3777 Townsgate Drive (Lower parking lot)

Advertisement
Become a KPBS sponsor

Encanto - Cielo Drive at Woodman Street

Golden Hill - Golden Hill Recreation Center, 2600 Golf Course Drive

La Jolla - Kate Sessions Memorial Park, Soledad Road at Loring Street

Logan Heights - Memorial Recreation Center, 2902 Marcy Avenue

Miramar - Miramar Landfill & Greenery, Convoy St. (North of Highway 52)

Mission Bay - SeaWorld Drive at Pacific Highway

Oak Park - Chollas Lake, 6350 College Grove Drive (In Gloria's Mesa parking lot)

Ocean Beach - Robb Athletic Field Recreation Center, 2525 Bacon Street

Otay Mesa/Nestor - Montgomery Walker Community Park (Upper and lower-west parking lots)

Rancho Bernardo - Rancho Bernardo Recreation Center, 18448 W. Bernardo Drive

Rancho Penasquitos - Canyonside Recreation Center, 12350 Black Mountain Road

San Diego State University - Parking Lot D off Alvarado Road

Scripps Ranch - Scripps Ranch Recreation Center, 11454 Blue Cypress Drive

Tierrasanta - De Portola Middle School, 11010 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

University City - Swanson Pool, 3585 Governor Drive

Tags

Environment GardeningRecyclingFeatured
Ed Joyce
Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.
See stories by Ed Joyce
More News