Georgia Forestry Commission encourages live Christmas tree recycling

Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, Wendy Burnett, says that real trees are better for the environment. 

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)- The Christmas season is over and some Middle Georgians are wondering where to put their live Christmas trees. 

Throughout the month of January, locations across Georgia will take your real Christmas trees. The recycled trees will be used for lumber, turned into mulch, donated, composted and used for crop fertilizer, and even fed to certain animals.

Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, Wendy Burnett, says that real trees are better for the environment. 

“It does so much for our environment, it provides clean air, it absorbs carbon, it provides wildlife habit,” says Burnett. “It can provide products for us and in this case, the product is a Christmas tree.”

Burnett says having live Christmas trees are the best because they absorb carbon that’s in the atmosphere as their growing and give us clean air.

“An artificial tree actually has a carbon footprint that is ten times that of a live Christmas tree,” says Burnett. “And to manufacture one artificial Christmas tree, it puts eighty-eight pounds of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, so really a no brainer in terms of the environmental impact, you want to go with a live Christmas tree.”

The city of Warner Robins will be hosting the great Christmas Tree Round-up recycling program.

Manager of Keep Warner Robins Beautiful, Tiffany Bowen, says this event is to encourage all Middle Georgians to only purchase live trees. 

“This is the Christmas tree round up, where we have live Christmas trees brought to a chipper sponsored by flint energy,” says Bowen. “We chip them up or put them in ponds as fish habitats, if we chip them up, we put them in local beautification sites or parks across the city to keep them out of the land field.”

To learn more about the tree recycling event you can contact Tiffany Bowen at (478-929-7258).