WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Wake County is sprucing up its parks by recycling your Christmas trees.


What You Need To Know

  • The Happy Trails Christmas Tree Recycling Program has been running since 2012

  • Crews use your Christmas trees to make mulch for trails in Wake County parks

  • You can donate your tree at eight sites through Sunday

  • Before you bring the tree, make sure all of the decorations are off

Since the Happy Trails Christmas Tree Recycling Program started in 2012, Wake County staff have collected more than 46,000 trees. Once the trees are collected, they're turned into mulch. And over the past 10 years, crews have made around 895 tons of it.

Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space Director Chris Snow says the mulch helps beautify trails at the county’s parks. 

“It also reduces the amount of erosion on the trails,” Snow said. “If you look out through the woods, you’ve got a natural leaf cover or mulch cover. And on trails, that gets worn down over time. And so replenishing this in the trail surface kind of covers up that bare soil,” he said.

According to the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, our state is ranked second in the nation for trees harvested, producing more than 20% of Christmas trees in the United States.

The Christmas tree tradition isn't going away anytime soon. So snow feels good about being able to give these trees a second life.

“You don't see them laying on the sides of the road, they don't wind up in the landfill and it's just a great use, a great reuse of something a lot of people have,” Snow said.

If you want to recycle your tree, you can drop it off through Sunday. All of the decorations must be off the tree before you bring it in.

There are eight drop-off locations in Wake County. The following solid waste convenience centers are open for tree drop-offs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week:

The following Wake County parks will accept trees from 8 a.m. to sunset, seven days a week: