CuriosiD: What happens to the Christmas tree in Campus Martius after the holidays?
A WDET listener wanted to know happens to the Christmas Tree in Campus Martius after the holiday season.
In this episode of CuriosiD, we answer the question:
What happens to the Campus Martius tree after the holidays?
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, real trees are a renewable and recyclable resource, and there are more than 4,000 local Christmas tree recycling programs across the country.
Recycled trees can be used in a number of ways, from making mulch to burning the wood for energy. Up to 30 million live trees are sold every year in the U.S.
According to the company Mid-Michigan Recycling, if all those Christmas trees were recycled and turned into electricity, it could power 650,000 homes for a month.
The options
The Downtown Detroit Partnership, which is in charge of the Christmas Tree display at Campus Marius, sent this statement:
“The Norway spruce that the city chooses each year is near the end of its life cycle. For every Michigan tree harvested, three new ones are planted. Each tree is recycled in a number of ways, whether into mulch or lumber, and then reused in Detroit parks, donated to local schools, or set aside for special cultural projects.”
Tree recycling of Christmas past
Mid-Michigan Recycling was once hired to recycle the tree.
Aaron Hess is the company’s operations manager.
“So the tree was cut up and put into a dumpster. Unfortunately, whoever loaded it got like some street barriers and ornaments and some other things kind of mixed into it, into the loads as it was delivered,” Hess said.
Hess says that because the tree had too many contaminants, namely, tree ornaments and tinsel, they were not able to do the job a second year in a row.
“We worked with the crews to clean it up and get the tree recycled, but it was a little extra work that we can’t normally do, uh, at least regularly.”
Mid-Michigan Recycling is the exclusive wood supplier for the Genesee Power Station, which is an energy plant that produces green, renewable energy from wood waste.
The facility receives most of its trees from cities with curbside pick-up in their neighborhoods. But people can also drop off trees at any time at their sites in Livonia or Macomb Township for free.
Hess says sending the trees to his company is a good option because there are not a lot of alternatives to salvage pine trees after the holidays.
“A Christmas tree doesn’t have the greatest value as a mulch product,” Hess says. “The needles and the bark content of a Christmas tree is pretty high compared to the, you know, to the wood itself. And then the pine needles just don’t make a good mulch.”
More creative uses
But there are other uses for an old Christmas tree. Amy Start is the Executive Director of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association. She says one option is to use the tree as a different kind of decoration in your own backyard.
“You can put it outside and put like different kinds of crumbs and bird seed and things like that on it.” Start says. “And then just watch the birds come throughout the winter. It’s a great spot for them to perch, and you can really get some good entertainment out of it.”
Start says some have even used old evergreens for erosion control on beaches or as fish habitats in lakes. She even suggests contacting local farms who may be collecting trees.
“Goats love Christmas trees. So, check with a farm like that. You can also check with the Christmas tree farm itself. Some of them will have a program where they take the tree back, and then they can chip it up for you as well,” Start says.
How to get your tree recycled
Most cities have some sort of Christmas tree pick-up. Detroit is one of those cities. For two weeks after the new year, Detroit will collect Christmas trees placed on the curb on the neighborhood’s normal garbage collection days.
And those who miss that window can take their tree to a citizen drop-off site—locations can be found on Detroit’s Department of Public Works website.
But residents should be sure to remove all ornaments, lights, and tinsel from the trees first, as they can make them ineligible for recycling.
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