Tis the Season to Recycle Christmas Trees

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) - The presents are unwrapped, the egg nog is gone and it's time to take down that old Christmas tree.

Over the weekend, the Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission and Keep Warner Robins Beautiful offered programs to recycle trees for free.

On Saturday, a steady flow of cars drove through Warner Robins. People stopped by right in front of the water tower to unload their old Evergreens into the chipper. Keep Warner Robins Beautiful and Flint Energies teamed up for "The Great Christmas Tree Round-Up." David Carr, manager of energy services at Flint Energies said the goal is to keep people from dumping their Christmas trees on the curb.

"They put it beside the road or they take it to the dumpster, or they take it the landfill themselves," Carr said, "and the landfill has to do something with that."

By chipping away the trees, Carr said, it saves the landfill pounds of space.

For every tree that was uprooted, Keep Warner Robins Beautiful wants a new one planted. The group handed out seedlings to every person who recycled a tree.Christopher Garrett dropped off his tree with the group Saturday afternoon and plans to plant his new one when he gets home.

"There should be a way to have those traditional trees and also recycle them," Garrett said, "and I think we found it."

The mulch from the trees will be used for gardening and public parks.