Waste Management of Orange County

Contact: Sarah Huoh, Public Relations Manager
(714) 685-6487 / (949) 283-8486 (mobile)

Give Your Christmas Tree A Second Life
Waste Management of Orange County Offers Christmas Tree Recycling; Hauler’s Collection Schedule Modified by One Day During Both Holiday Weeks

ORANGE COUNTY, Dec. 15, 2006 - The Christmas tree is the symbol of the holiday season for many people, and it can have a useful life once the ornaments are packed away.

Waste Management of Orange County provides our customers in the county the opportunity to recycle their trees after the holiday season at no extra charge.

Waste Management customers with curbside service can recycle their Christmas trees by placing the trees at the curb or in their greenwaste carts on their scheduled pick-up day – trees greater than six feet tall must be cut in half. Trees will be picked up for recycling during the two weeks following Christmas, beginning Dec. 26 (in the cities of Irvine and Santa Ana, tree collection will take place for three weeks after Christmas). Be sure to remove all decorations, including ornaments, tinsel, lights and the tree stand. Flocked trees cannot be recycled, but will be collected if they are placed at the curb.

During this period, bulky item collection – the scheduled retrieval of items such as furniture or appliances – will be suspended in order to devote resources to Christmas tree collection. Regular bulky item service will resume on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007.

“Every year in California, more than 40,000 tons of Christmas trees require handling at the end of the holiday season. We recognize that these trees can be put to more creative uses than simply being piled whole into landfills,” said David Ross, Senior District Manager of Waste Management of Orange County. “If you have a live tree in your home, please recycle it when the holidays are over.”

Trees collected in the curbside program will be mulched for reuse as alternative daily cover, which is the cover material placed on the active face of a landfill at the end of each day to protect against fires, odors, blowing litter and scavenging.

For details on alternative tree recycling programs in Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo and the City of Orange, please see the notes below.

Pick-up Schedule Delayed by One Day During the Holidays

Because Christmas and New Year’s Day both fall on Mondays, Waste Management’s waste and recycling pick-up schedules will be delayed by one day during the weeks of Dec. 25, 2006, and Jan. 1, 2007.

This means customers in the following cities should place their bins out for pick-up one day later than usual during both weeks, beginning on Dec. 26 through Dec. 30, and also Jan. 2 through Jan. 6:

“Customers who usually receive service on Monday will instead receive it Tuesday, and so on throughout the remainder of the week, with Friday’s customers receiving service on Saturday,” said Ross. “We appreciate our customers’ cooperation with the holiday schedule so that all of our employees can observe Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.”

All Waste Management of Orange County operations will be closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 – the hauling operations, customer service center and transfer stations in Irvine and Orange will re-open for normal operations on the Tuesdays after both holidays.

Orange County customer service is available at (714) 558-7761, (949) 642-1191 or (562) 694-3730, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon.

Alternative Tree Recycling Programs

Irvine residents who live in multi-family complexes with community waste service can take their trees to Sunset Environmental, located at 16122 Construction Circle West (near Jamboree and Barranca) in Irvine. Trees will be accepted December 26, 2006, through January 13, 2007. Residents can take their trees to Sunset during the following hours: Monday to Friday, 9a.m. – 3 p.m. and Saturday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Another drop off location for Irvine residents will be at the City’s Operation Support Facility located at 6427 Oak Canyon Road, Building 5, off of Sand Canyon. Trees will be accepted starting January 2, 2007, through January 13, 2007. Residents can take their trees to Irvine OSF during the following hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. Those dropping off trees will need to show proof of Irvine residency.

The City of Laguna Beach and Waste Management of Orange County are sponsoring a drop-off Christmas tree recycling program for residents of Laguna Beach from December 26, 2006, through January 7, 2007. Laguna Beach residents may take their trees to the Laguna Beach City Hall Employees’ Parking Lot located at the intersection of Laguna Canyon Road and Forest Avenue.

The City of Mission Viejo and Waste Management of Orange County are sponsoring a Christmas tree recycling program for Mission Viejo residents at two drop-off locations from December 26, 2006, through January 7, 2007. Mission Viejo residents may take their trees to one of the following locations:

Orange residents who live in multi-family complexes with bin service can take their trees to the Orange Transfer Station at 2050 N. Glassell. Trees will be accepted December 26, 2006, through January 6, 2007. Residents can take their trees to Orange Transfer during the following hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Those dropping off trees will need to show proof of Orange residency.

Waste Management is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. For more information about recycling, log onto www.wmorangecounty.com.