It isn't even New Year's Eve. The last bowl game hasn't been played yet, and already America's Christmas tree growers are telling us to recycle our trees after we've stripped them of lights and tinsel.
It's the environmentally responsible thing to do, says the National Christmas Tree Association. It's also part of an effort to boost flagging sales, says Jim Corliss, president-elect of the organization.
Natural Christmas trees, which commanded 95 percent of the market in the early 1960s, have lost nearly half that market to the artificial tree industry.
The problem was one of image. Environmentalists argued that it was bad to cut down trees -- nature's air conditioners -- and fire marshals said natural trees were fire hazards.
Now tree growers are struggling to win back some of that market share.
During the last decade, the "leadership of our association began to realize if our customers couldn't dispose of our product conveniently, they would go buy a fake tree," says Corliss, a grower from Bangor, Maine, who sells about 2,000 trees annually.
He concedes that Christmas tree farmers have lagged behind municipalities throughout the country in recycling but says the organization is trying to catch up. The farmers have hired a Chicago public relations firm and are promoting the first "Christmas Tree Recycling Week" from Tuesday to Jan. 9.
The market share remains at 46 percent for natural tree growers, but Corliss says he is optimistic that figure will grow.
Baltimore and its five surrounding counties all have Christmas tree recycling programs that include some combination of curbside pickup and drop-off points.
Each jurisdiction grinds trees into mulch. Some use the mulch for projects in parks and public buildings; others give it away to residents.
Harford residents, for example, can get three 30-gallon containers of mulch for free, or buy it in bulk at $10 per cubic yard when they drop off their trees at the county landfill in Street or at the Fallston Park and Ride at Mountain and Harford roads. The county also gives residents who recycle their Christmas trees coupons for free seedlings, which can be redeemed in the spring.
"We started the program eight years ago, and we must have ground 100,000 trees to mulch since then," says Kim Ayres, a spokeswoman for the county's solid waste management program.
