Place your Christmas Tree on the Curb this week to help protect wetlands!

January 6, 2025 | From City of New Orleans

Place your Christmas Tree on the Curb this week to help protect wetlands!

NEW ORLEANS - The City of New Orleans today reminded residents of the annual Christmas Tree Recycling Program to restore our wetlands. For over 26 years, this program has contributed to the restoration of the Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge, while also preventing them from being placed in landfills. Thanks to residents who participate in the program each year, recycled trees have restored an area of marsh equal to approximately 200 football fields. The trees also create an important habitat for birds, fish, crabs, crawfish and shrimp.

• January 6th through January 10th - Place your trees on the curb by 5 a.m. on your regular garbage pick-up day. A recycling truck will follow your regular garbage truck

• Residents in the French Quarter and Downtown Development District should place their trees curbside before 4 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9 only

• You do not need to call 311 to schedule a pick-up. As was stated previously on our social media channels and press releases, the deadline for these requests was January 3rd.

Trees cannot be flocked or have remnants of tinsel, and all ornamentation and lighting should be removed before recycling pick up.

The program is coordinated by the City of New Orleans' [nola.gov/resilience] Office of Resilience and Sustainability (ORS) and Department of Sanitation, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Louisiana Army National Guard (LANG).

The trees will be sorted, bundled and airlifted by helicopter to be dropped in targeted sections of the Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge. The annual Christmas Tree drop represents a long-standing partnership between LANG and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The project benefits the City of New Orleans and surrounding coastal environment while also providing valuable training hours for pilots and crewmembers of the 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 244th Aviation Regiment.

"Our annual Christmas Tree Recycling Program is a powerful example of how we can work together to restore and protect our wetlands, which are critical for our resilience against storms and hurricanes," said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. "This program reflects our commitment to sustainability and community-driven solutions. I encourage all residents to participate in this meaningful tradition and help us continue making a tangible impact on our coastal restoration efforts." 

"Our wetlands are our first line of defense from storm surge, hurricanes and tropical events," said ORS Environmental Affairs Administrator Cheryn Robles. "The Christmas tree recycling program is a great way for residents to get involved in the fight to restore our coast."

"Last year, we were excited to double the number of trees collected from the prior year for a total of 8,000," said Sanitation Director Matt Torri.  "We look forward to exceeding last year's total in 2025. Our curbside collection contractors find it very rewarding to contribute to the reuse of the trees to build marsh and wetlands."

To learn more, go to nola.gov/ChristmasTreeRecycling 

# # #

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.