***Reminder***CITY ENCOURAGES RESIDENTS TO RECYCLE CHRISTMAS TREES FOR COASTAL RESTORATION

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Dec. 29, 2022

 

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communications@nola.gov
(504) 658-4945

CITY ENCOURAGES RESIDENTS TO RECYCLE CHRISTMAS TREES FOR COASTAL RESTORATION

NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans today reminds residents that the Christmas tree recycling program will continue in an effort to restore and protect the Louisiana coastline.

Orleans Parish residents who receive solid waste collection services by the City’s contractors Richard's Disposal, IV Waste, and Waste Pro in service areas 1, 2,3, and 4 are encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees. Residents are asked to place the trees curbside before 5 a.m. on their regularly scheduled collection day between Jan. 9-14, 2023. Properties in the French Quarter or Downtown Development District, serviced by KBS, should place the trees curbside before 4 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.  

Only natural, unflocked trees that are free of tree stands and all trimmings (decorations, ornaments, tinsel and lights) will be collected for recycling. Flocked, artificial trees, trees in bags or trees with unremoved trimmings will be collected with garbage and transported to the landfill. Trees are not to be placed on the neutral grounds, as this delays the collection process.  

Working collaboratively, the City’s Department of Sanitation, contractors Richard’s Disposal, IV Waste, Waste Pro, and KBS, the City’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Louisiana National Guard will collect, sort and bundle the recycled trees. They will then be placed in selected coastal zones to restore wetlands lost to erosion and the sinking of the land (subsidence).  

In 2021, more than 5,000 Christmas trees were collected in Orleans Parish after the holidays and airlifted by the Louisiana National Guard into the Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge to create new marsh habitat. After the trees are dropped by helicopter, workers arrive by boat to move them to their final position. Over the years, the program has replenished approximately 175 acres of wetlands in Bayou Sauvage, creating important habitat for birds, fish, crabs, crawfish and shrimp. 

 

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