CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As you take down your decorations, remember you can recycle your Christmas tree for free with Mecklenburg County Solid Waste. 

What You Need To Know

  • Take the lights, ornaments and decorations off your Christmas tree before recycling it
  • Christmas trees are considered yard waste in North Carolina and it's illegal to dump them in a landfill
  • Waste management programs across the state grind yard waste down and make compost to recycle yard debris

Director of solid waste Jeff Smithberger says about 5,000 tons of Christmas trees come through the Compost Central Recycling Center every year.

"They're not going to be land-buried in some landfill somewhere," Smithberger said. "They have a useful life, and the sustainability process also keeps all of these good folks working."

Smithberger says it's illegal in North Carolina to dump yard waste, including Christmas trees, in landfills. 

At the recycling center, each Christmas tree is put through a grinder, followed by eight months of curing the mulch and debris to create compost. 

"It's a very sustainable process. It's organic. It's all locally made here in Mecklenburg County, and this same type of process goes on in about every other county in the great state of North Carolina," Smithberger said.

The mulch material is then able to be sold to individuals or businesses. 

Wake County, Guilford County, Asheville and other areas across the state are also recycling Christmas trees.

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