With Christmas done, ready to recycle your live tree?
OK, which one of your neighbors was, or will be, the first for discarding a live Christmas tree, and how soon? Dec. 26?
Long before Christmas arrives and passes, crews in the Myrtle Beach city solid waste department and Horry County Solid Waste Authority already have tree recycling in mind, part of a cycle of vital services that goes on year round, season after season.
Starting the week of Jan. 4, Myrtle Beach will begin picking up discarded Christmas trees at residents’ curbside, and acceptance of trees at the city’s designated dropoff point on Mr. Joe White Avenue at 21st Avenue North Extension, behind Myrtle Waves Water Park, already has begun.
Horry County – with a slogan of “You keep the ornaments. Just bring us the tree.” – has begun its “Grinding of the Greens” program, going through Jan. 29, taking trees at any of its 24 recycling and convenience centers. The county also reminds residents of Conway, Aynor, Loris and Surfside Beach of their own city/town curbside pickups in the county’s aforementioned time frame, and that North Myrtle Beach residents may leave trees at the curb Jan. 2-20, or visit any of that city’s dropoff sites in Cherry Grove, Crescent Beach, Ocean Drive and Windy Hill.
Everyone is reminded that these free roundups – which will result in free mulch available for pickup in mid-winter, near the start of February – cover trees only, not wreaths, and of the basic requirement of removing all lights, decorations, tinsel, garland, and tree stands before disposal.
About a week before Christmas, Jimmy Parker, Myrtle Beach’s city solid waste superintendent, thought about another year’s collection, and the smooth, efficient system that plays out after the holidays to start every new year.
Question | About how many discarded are picked up after every Christmas season, and how has that annual figure held through the years? Any moves up or down?
Answer | It’s hard to estimate; probably 1,800 to 2,200. It’s every bit of 2,000 trees, and it has been steady.
Q. | How important does the reminder remain about having all items removed from trees before curbside pickup or dropping off at the collection point?
A. | It’s really important that people remove decorations and tree stands. We’ve even found gifts in trees gathered, where they they get stuck in the branches.
Q. | How big does the amassed pile of trees get?
A. | We have to take a backhoe to push them up. It’ll probably get 22-23 feet in height and probably in a 40-by-40-foot section; it’s like a mountain. Come by at the end of January, off 21st Avenue North, behind Myrtle Waves, and you’ll get a really good look at them.
Q. | Then, when does the public make avail of some free mulch at the dropoff site, and how long does the process take to grind the trees?
A. | Last year, we did it about Feb. 12. For grinding them, it takes about a day and a half to run it.
Q. | Are the trees gathered still green, or do they look like the little, dry tree that Charlie Brown bought, motivated to make it loved?
A. | Most of them are still all green.
Q. | What kind of trees deck your office halls? Real or artificial?
A. | We have real.
Contact STEVE PALISIN at 843-444-1764.
If you recycle Christmas trees
Reminder: Remove all lights, decorations, tinsel, garland, and tree stands before disposal, and for curbside pickup, do not leave a tree in the street or cover any utility meters or boxes.
City of Myrtle Beach
WHERE AND WHEN:
▪ Dropoffs welcome through January at designated site on Mr. Joe White Avenue at 21st Avenue North Extension, behind Myrtle Waves Water Park.
▪ Curbside pickup citywide, Jan. 4-29.
INFORMATION: 843-918-2160
Horry County’s ‘Grinding of the Greens’
WHEN: Through Jan. 29
WHERE:
▪ All 24 recycling and convenience centers.
▪ Curbside pickup in Conway, Aynor, Loris and Surfside Beach city/town limits.
▪ Curbside pickup Jan. 2-20 across city of North Myrtle Beach , also with dropoff welcome at four sites: in Cherry Grove (in public parking lot at Ocean Boulevard and Shorehaven Drive, near 19th Avenue North), Crescent Beach (in parking lot across from J. Bryan Floyd Community Center, 1003 Possum Trot Road), Ocean Drive (in parking lot on northeast side of Main Street, between Ocean Boulevard and Hillside Drive), and Windy Hill (in parking lot at 38th Avenue South and Seaview Street).
INFORMATION: 843-347-1651 or www.solidwasteauthority.org/docs/gogad2015.pdf
This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "With Christmas done, ready to recycle your live tree?."