Lethbridge to launch 29th Christmas Tree collection Saturday

A still taken from video posted by the City of Edmonton shows a worker recycling a Christmas tree.

The City of Lethbridge wants to turn your Christmas tree into environmentally-friendly mulch.

This Saturday, the city's annual Christmas Tree Collection Program will be held in partnership with the Lethbridge Volleyball Club, whose members will be out collecting trees left in your usual garbage collection location but away from blue and black carts.

Trees should be visible, stripped of all tinsel and decorations and left out by 7 a.m. Saturday in order to be collected.

This is the 29^th edition of the program, a fundraising activity for local youth groups. The trees that are collected are diverted from the landfill, and chipped into mulch, which is available at no charge on a first-come basis at Peenaquim Park in the parking lot adjacent to the dog park.

Since the program was launched almost three decades ago, over 80,000 trees have been collected and turned into mulch.

If you are part of the Phase 1 curbside organics program and miss the pick-up, your tree can be cut down and placed in your green cart.

Christmas trees can also be composted at the waste and recycling centre any time of year. Lethbridge residents can get the first 250 kilograms free every Saturday.

For more information, call Lethbridge 311 or go to www.lethbridge.ca/wrs.