Lake County residents can recycle Christmas trees; ‘Use that tree one more time to get the full value out of its life’

Evergreen trees are an iconic symbol of Christmastime, especially decked in twinkling lights, tinsel and glittering ornaments. But what happens to the emblematic shrub after all the presents are gone?

Undecorated trees can be dropped off at eight Lake County Forest Preserves locations. The recycled evergreens get chopped into mulch for use around the county preserves.

“Trees are from the Earth,” said Rebekah Snyder, director of community engagement for the Forest Preserves District. “Then they spend time in our homes, and we have traditions around them. At the end, you can return them to the Earth.

“It’s really nice to know that moment you have with your tree, it has another life out in the forest preserve,” she said.

About 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. each year, and almost 350 million trees are growing on Christmas tree farms around the country, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.

More than 4,000 local tree recycling programs operate throughout the U.S., according to the association.

The president of the Illinois Christmas Tree Association, Robert Richardson, is a proponent of real trees because they provide habitat and clean air during the growth period, and can be reused after their holiday life.

The popular fir tree takes an average of eight years to reach the preferred Christmas tree height of between seven to eight feet, he said. Some firs can take 10 years, depending on conditions and type of tree.

“At the end (of Christmas), we would like everyone to take the tree to your park district or municipality that has a recycling program, and use that tree one more time to get the full value out of its life,” said Richardson, who owns a Christmas tree farm in McHenry County.

While artificial trees help support the high-demand Christmas tree market, he said they will eventually break down and have to be thrown away.

“They go ... (to) the landfill, and are there for 10,000 years,” Richardson said of the artificial trees, that are often made of plastic and steel.

For at least 20 years, the Lake County Forest Preserves have been collecting Christmas trees through the recycling program, which aligns with the organization’s sustainability mission and keeps the trees from taking up space in landfills.

“If we can make sure that the way we operate is more sustainable, we feel like that’s really a full expression of our mission as an organization,” Snyder said.

Because the forest preserves make mulch year-round, the Christmas tree program, which receives about 1,000 recycled trees each year, fits naturally into the organization’s operations.

Mulch, made by putting cut trees through a woodchipper, is used around the county preserves to help newly planted trees retain water, for landscaping aesthetics to suppress weed growth and to line the miles of trails.

The recycled trees are also used to create fish cribs — multiple trees are tied together with a cinder block to sink into some of the larger lakes. Lakes that were once gravel quarries don’t support underwater vegetation, so the fish cribs provide important fish habitat.

Snyder said people from all over the county take advantage of the tree recycling programming, which is why there are eight drop-off locations this year: Grant Woods in Ingleside, Greenbelt in North Chicago, Half Day in Vernon Hills, Heron Creek in Long Grove, Lakewood in Wauconda, Old School in Mettawa, Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods and Van Patten Woods in Wadsworth.

“The day after Christmas, on Dec. 26, the trees start arriving,” Snyder said. “We know people make good use of (the program).”

Real, undecorated trees can be dropped off at one of the marked preserve sites through Feb. 1.

“Rather than just dump them on the side of the road or put them in the garbage, it’s best if you can recycle the (tree),” Richardson said.

chilles@chicagotribune.com