AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin has recycled Christmas trees since 1985.
“We compost about 20,000 trees each year out of the landfill,” said Alyssa Armstrong, the public information specialist with Austin Resource Recovery. “This year, about 2,000 trees were dropped off at Zilker Park. And the rest is made up of those that are composted curbside by residents.”
John Plyler has been recycling his Christmas tree and collecting free mulch for years. The East Austin resident used to bring his three kids along with him, but they’re all grown up now.
“I’ve turned it into a tradition, a Christmas tradition," he said.
This year trees were collected during the first two weekends of January. On Wednesday, Austin residents could pick up mulch starting at 9 a.m. But the regulars showed up early. They know there's no supervision.
Plyler arrived around 7:30 a.m. and filled up the truck bed of his red Ford F-150. He used the mulch to cover his driveway, which he said was just "rocks and roots."
“Instead of paving or putting hard concrete down, this seems to be the softer way to go,” he said. “And we’re reusing the trees that people used for Christmas, so it’s a win-win.”
Plyler doesn’t just benefit from the free mulch. He contributes as well.
“One of my Christmas trees is in here too,” he said. “I feel like that’s the only way to have karma is to do it.”
Recycling like this is an easy way to help the environment. And it’s important to Plyler because not everything is just a “throw-away.”
“I can’t imagine those trees going into the landfill and just wasting away,” he said.
Recycling Christmas trees is part of Austin’s effort to be zero-waste by 2040. That means keeping 90% of discarded materials out of the landfill.
But whether or not Austin is on track to meet that goal is up in the air. The Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan, dated Dec. 2011, details how the city will reach its zero-waste goals. One of the benchmarks was to divert 50% of materials from the landfill by 2015. But the study done that year found that the city fell short at 42%. These "diversion studies" are supposed to be done every five years, according to Armstrong, but the 2020 study was postponed due to COVID-19. The goal for that year, outlined in the Master Plan, was to divert 75% of materials from the landfill. As of this writing, Armstrong said she does not know when the study to check on Austin's progress will actually be done.
Regardless of whether or not Austin is reaching these benchmarks, recycling Christmas trees is good for the environment nonetheless.
“While we recognize that keeping at least 90% of discarded materials out of the landfill by 2040 is a lofty goal, we continue to create and adapt our programs and services to help reach that goal,” Armstrong said.