Sonoma County California: Where and How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree After the Holidays January 2024

Scroll down this page for local Sonoma County California recycling and responsible disposal options for holiday waste, from Christmas trees and wreathes, to lights, ornaments, wrapping and packaging. Many towns and cities offer curbside collection, even for Christmas trees. Counties and unicorporated areas typically have a number or drop-off locations.

Christmas trees are usually colllected from December 26th through the first 2 or 3 weeks in January.  Whether your tree is picked up from your curb, or you drop it off, be sure to remove all  remove all lights, wire, tinsel, ornaments, nails, stands,  other NON-Organic decorative materials and other materials that are not part of the original tree. This includes tree stands also.  Flocked trees are occasionally accepted (call to verify), but not artificial trees. Large trees (larger than the standard 6 - 7 ft tree) may need to be cut in half to be acceptable by your curbside garbage hauler.

The trees and wreathes are usually chipped and made into a mulch which is often made available, free to city or county residents.

Recycling other items:

• See this page for local options to easily recycle your Christmas holiday lights
• To find out how to recycle almost any other type of Christmas holiday waste from wrapping paper to toys and electronics, see this page. Ornaments and light strings are usually placed into your curbside collection bin. Some localities have year-round collection centers. The same is true of wrapping paper and boxes. 

Always follow the links (usually the blue, underlined name of the city or county) below for updated information, as these agencies often wait until the last minute to change dates or update their information. If your area is not specifically mentioned below, call your trash collection agency and ask!

Sonoma County California: Where and How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree After the Holidays January 2024

Sonoma County, California Christmas Tree Recycling Programs

• Sonoma County

  The annual Sonoma County Christmas Tree Collection Program runs the first two weeks in January. Christmas trees are recycled into mulch and compost. H. Residents have four options for recycling their Christmas tree this year:
  1. Cut the tree to fit in your yard waste container or have your whole tree picked up at the curb (select areas). Put your tree in your yard waste container and place at the curb on your regular yard waste collection day. The tree MUST be CUT TO FIT inside the container (4 foot or less sections, please). Trees sticking out of the container can interfere with the lifting arm on the truck. Thank you for your help. Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Windsor and unincorporated Sonoma County have whole tree collection. Place your unflocked tree beside your yard waste container on your regular collection day in early to mid January.
  Unincorporated Please visit www.unicycler.com after December 15th for updated information.
  Outside of listed days, place tree in yard waste container; cut the tree to fit. Please do not bag your tree.
  2. Call (707) 565-3333 for an appointment to have a non-profit in your area pickup your tree. Call before Friday, January 2 to arrange for pickup. The suggested donation for this service is $7 for trees less than 6 feet and (Prices may have changed!) $10 for larger trees.
  3. Special whole tree collection for Rohnert Park multifamily complexes: Managers of multifamily complexes in Rohnert Park can arrange to have their tenant's trees picked up by special arrangement. Contact Latisha Richardson at Rohnert Park Disposal at (707) 586-2283 or email [email protected].
  4. Free drop-off locations throughout the county. Residents may take up to two trees to any of the following drop-off locations listed on this page at no charge
  Also visit the related section on this Sonoma County website. Christmas Tree Recycling Programs by City

  Additionally, residents in Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Windsor, and unincorporated Sonoma County have the option of whole-tree collection. Place your UNBAGGED and UNFLOCKED tree beside your yard waste container on your normal collection day on the dates below:
  Cotati January 2 - January 6
  Cloverdale December 26 - December 30
  Healdsburg December 26, 2022 - January 6, 2023
  Petaluma December 26, 2022 - December 30, 2022
  Rohnert Park January 2, 2023 - January 13, 2023
  Santa Rosa December 26, 2022 - January 6, 2023
  Unincorporated Sonoma County  December 26, 2022 - January 20, 2023
  Windsor December 26, 2022 - December 30, 2022
  * Whole tree collection up to 6 feet tall may be placed on the curb.
  Unincorporated January 3, 2022 - January 28, 2022 Please visit www.recology.com/recology-sonoma-marin for updated information.
  Drop-offs: Residents may take up to two trees to any of the following drop-off locations at no charge. Fees apply for businesses.

  Holiday Tree Drop Off Locations

  • Cotati Cotati Fire Station, 1 East Cotati Avenue Daily 8A-4P, December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023
  • Cloverdale Cloverdale Citrus Fair Citrus Fair Drive Daily 8A-4P. December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023, Washington St. Entrance
  • Healdsburg Healdsburg Corporation Yard 550 Westside Road Daily 8A-5P, December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023
  • Petaluma Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds 175 Fairgrounds Drive Daily 8A-5P, December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023 Along the fence between the office of the Sonoma-Airport Express and the main gate.
  • Rohnert Park Rohnert Park Community Center 5401 Snyder Lane Daily 8A-4P, December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023
  • Santa Rosa Sonoma County Fairgrounds 1350 Bennett Valley Road (Jockey Club entrance) Daily 8A-5P, December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023
  • Sebastopol Sebastopol Corporation Yard 425 Morris Street Daily 8A-4P, December 26, 2022 to January 6, 2023
  • Windsor Windsor Corporation Yard 8400 Windsor Road Note this location for Windsor residents only Daily 8A-5P, December 26, 2022 to January 7, 2023
  • Unincorporated area
    County Refuse Disposal Sites, except Central Disposal Site. Up to 2 unflocked trees per vehicle accepted for free. Note Central Disposal Site does not accept yard debris or wood scrap.Regular hours. December 26, 2022 to January 13, 2023
  • Non-profit whole tree pickup
    Call (707) 565-3333 to make an appointment for pickup. Pickups will be available December 26-27, as well as some dates in early January. Call before the second Saturday (around January 8-9,) to make an appointment. The suggested donation for this service is $7 for trees less than 6 feet and (Prices may have changed!) $10 for larger trees.
  • Not accepted: - Tinsel - Decorations - Lights - Stands - Flocked trees
    Questions? Call the Eco-Desk 565-DESK (3375

  Specific Cities:

  Albany Berkeley Carlsbad Castro Valley Cerritos Dublin Emeryville Fremont (Republic Services will service holiday trees curbside at no charge for single family residents that have weekly green cart service from January 2to Friday of the second full week in January. Multi-family residents should contact their property management for disposal options

  Hayward Indian Wells Livermore Millbrae Monterey Newark Oakland Convenient and free pickup of holiday trees takes place on your regularly scheduled Compost service day, December 26 to mid-January Place curbside on service day.* Thank you for removing all stands and decorations. All residences in Oakland, including apartments and condos now receive this service. Please note that a separate collection vehicle may pick up the trees. After mid-January, cut trees to fit into your compost container for regular weekly collection.

  Piedmont Pleasanton San Leandro San Lorenzo Santa Monica - from December 28 through the end of the third week in January , R3 will collect trees curbside or in the alley depending where your containers are placed for weekly collection. No appointment is necessary. If your service falls on Christmas and New Year's Day, collection will be moved to Saturday. All other collection days will remain the same. Please remember to remove all decorations, tinsel and stands so trees can be composted. Sausalito Union City

Sonoma County ZeroWaste - More information and updates.

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