Scroll down this page for local Indiana 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:
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!
Indiana: Where and How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree After the Holidays January 2024
- Indianapolis, Marion County - the City is making it easier than ever to dispose of live
Christmas trees after the holiday season. January 1 - January 31,
trash crews will pick up live Christmas trees curbside as part of
regular trash pick up at no additional charge to residents. To be
collected, residents must follow the following guidelines: Remove
all lights and ornaments from trees. Cut and bundle trees in 3-foot
to 4-foot sections. Place the tree at the curb on your regular trash
collection day in January. Residents may still drop their trees at
Indy Parks locations as they have done in years past at any of the
following parks locations:
- Broad Ripple Park, 1610 Broad Ripple
Ave., South lot
- Ellenberger Park, 5301 E. St. Clair Street, Main
parking lot
- Garfield Park, 2432 Conservatory Drive, MacAllister
Center
- Krannert Park, 605 S. High School Road, North parking lot
- Perry Park, 451 Stop 11 Road, Southwest side of parking lot near
pool
- Riverside Park, 2420 N. Riverside Drive, Tennis court
parking lot
- Sahm Park, 6801 E. 91st Street, Soccer field parking
lot
- Northwestway Park, 5253 W. 62nd Street, Near the recycling
bins
Christmas tree collection in January will not affect
residents' regular trash limitations, it does not count against
your weekly trash limit. Those in hand collection areas may leave
up to 10 kitchen-size bags of trash in addition to one Christmas
tree. Those in cart collection areas may leave up to two carts of
trash in addition to one Christmas tree.
If you cannot cut and
bundle my tree for collection on my regular trash day, you may leave
your tree at the curb on your monthly heavy trash collection day.
Trees left for pick-up on heavy trash days do not need to be cut and
bundled. Each tree will count as one heavy trash item.
After
January, residents may place their trees at the curb on heavy trash
days for collection. Each tree will count as one heavy trash item.
- Allen County, Fort Wayne area - Drop off your Christmas tree at the locations below. Christmas trees will not be picked up. Wreathes are not accepted. See the list at right or call
449-7878.
It is free from December 26th to mid-January. After that, trees are still accepted at the Bio-Solids, Lime and Yard Waste Facility,
though fees will apply.
Locations:
Fort Wayne Bio-Solids Handling Facility to 6202 Lake Avenue, Fort Wayne, Monday to Friday, 7:00AM to 3:00PM (Closed New Year's Day)
North Highway
Department Building to 2234 Carroll Road, Fort Wayne, Open daily from dawn to dusk.
Metea County Park to 8401 Union Chapel Road, Open 9:00AM to
6:00PM daily
Little River Wetlands Project to 5000 Smith Road, Monday to Saturday, 8:00AM to 4:00PM (Closed 12/26 and New Year's Day)
New
Haven Utility Shop to 2201 Summit Street, New Haven, Open daily from dawn to dusk.
Monroeville Water Works Department to 200 Utility Drive,
Monroeville, Open daily from dawn to dusk.
For more information, see www.acwastewatcher.org or
call ACDEM at (260) 449-7878.
- Bloomington, IN - Christmas tree collection will occur during the month of
January. Your trees/wreaths must be free of wires, decorations, lights, stands etc. No artificial trees or wreaths. This is at no charge. They will
pick up only on your yard waste day. You can check your day on our website at Bloomington.in.gov/mybloomington
. If you have questions please call 812-349-3443. Please have your trees placed on the curb, clear of all ornaments and decorations (and not placed
in a bag), by 5:00 AM on your assigned yard waste day. Yard waste collection program is suspended between January 1 and April 1.
- Carmel, IN - Free Christmas tree pickup
is available curbside on your regular trash days beginning January
1st. Please remove all decorations and do not bag your tree.
Christmas tree pick up is included in the program at no additional
cost. Please have Christmas trees cut in half and laid next to the
trash cart.
- Columbus, IN - December 26th to the last Friday in January; City crews will be
picking up residential Christmas trees CURBSIDE (NO ALLEY'S) the
same day as your regular trash collection. Call-ins will not be
accepted for Christmas trees and collections will not be made pm
private streets. All trees (not in bags) must be free of ornaments,
hooks stands, or nails and placed at the curbside.. City crews will be picking up residential
Christmas trees CURBSIDE (no alleys) the day following their regular
trash collection. Friday's trees will be collected on the following
Monday. There will be no special pick-ups made for Christmas trees
and collections will not be made on private streets. All trees (not
in bags) must be free of ornaments, hooks, stands, or nails and
placed at the curbside.
Click here for locations, updated information and more details.
- Goshen, Indiana - Christmas Tree Disposal - Goshen Street Department workers will pick up discarded Christmas trees from early January through the last Friday in
the month. After removing the tree stand and all lights
and decorations, City residents may place their tree by the street
curb. No artificial trees will be collected, and no collections will
be made from City alleys. Please note that snow events will take
precedence over the collection of discarded trees. Residents wishing
to personally dispose of their tree - and all remaining trees after
January 23 - may take it/them to the Environmental Center at North
Indiana Avenue and County Road 19 (the first left turn north of Wilden Avenue) Monday through Friday between 8 am and 4 pm The
trash-collection service will not take your discarded tree. If you
have questions, contact the Street Department at 534-9711 or
[email protected].
- Greenwood, IN - curbside Christmas tree
pickup is offered through January. Trees must be undecorated and not
bagged. Trees will be picked up and then transported to the city
recycling area on Fry road where they will be turned to mulch. Mulch
is generally available for free to Greenwood residents but no
information is available at this time.
-
Johnson County, Indiana - Christmas Tree Recycling, The Johnson County Recycling
District will be offering Christmas tree recycling again this year!
The locations listed below will be open from December 26th to ABOUT January 9th (their website is down, so I cannot confirm the end date). This program is for Johnson County residents only. Businesses
are NOT permitted to use these locations to dispose of trees. ALL
TINSEL, LIGHTS, ORNAMENTS, NETTING, AND TAGS MUST BE REMOVED. 4
CONVENIENT LOCATIONS IN JOHNSON COUNTY:
Take your tree to:
Johnson County Shrine Club: 751 W. King Street,
Franklin (behind Ken's Auto Electric)
Center Grove High School: 2717 S. Morgantown
Road, Greenwood (near the tennis courts and baseball field)
Indian Creek Intermediate School: 1000 S. Indian Creek Drive, Trafalgar
(southwest corner near the football field)
McCarty Mulch: 100 Bluffdale Road (off State Road 37 in the Center Grove Area)
Note: Trees at
McCarty Mulch must be dropped off during business hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The Johnson County Recycling District has the
resources to help you recycle or dispose of many of your unwanted
household items in an environmentally friendly way, if possible.
Call us at (317) 738-2546 for recycling/disposal information. The
District office will be closed December 24, 25, and 31st and January
1st. The Recycling District accepts the following items at the
District office, 900 Arvin Road, Suite A, Franklin:
Electronics
such as computers, monitors, stereos, televisions (Fees apply for
TV's and computer monitors) Cash or check only. Checks made payable
to JCSWMD), Cell phones with cords and chargers, PDA"s or Blackberry
devices, MP3 players or IPods, Printer ink cartridges,
Rechargeable batteries: includes rechargeable household batteries,
button batteries, power tool batteries, Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd),
Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium Ion (Li-ion), Nickel Zinc
(Ni-Zn) or Lead (pb) under 2 lbs. For more information on recycling
rechargeable batteries, visit the Rechargeable Battery Recycling
Corporation, www.rbrc.org
. We are
not able to accept alkaline batteries at this time. Unfortunately we
can not accept alkaline batteries at this time. Place them in with
your regular trash.
-
South Bend, Indiana
- Drop off your tree or
have the City of South Bend pick it up. All trees are recycled at
Organic Resources into high quality mulch, which is provided at no
cost to South Bend residents. The Street Department offers two
options for the disposal of natural Christmas trees.
The City of South Bend will offer free
Christmas tree disposal for residents within city limits. The free
disposal will run from Wednesday, January 2 through Thursday,
January 31, with pickup taking place on the same day as trash
pickup. Residents can schedule their pickup by submitting an online
request at http://southbendin.gov/treepickup or by calling 311.
Residents are asked to follow the guidelines for safe and efficient
tree pickup:
All trees must be placed at the curb by 6:00 am on
the day of pickup. Trees should not be placed in the street or
alley. Cars should not be parked on top or in front of the tree, as
this could hamper crews from collecting it.
All lights,
ornaments, plastic coverings/wraps and metals, such as nails or tree
stands, must be removed from the tree prior to pick up. Items left
on trees can injure employees or seriously damage the tree shredding
equipment, leaving it inoperable.
Artificial trees and trees
containing any metal, glass or wire will not be collected. Residents
will be responsible for the proper disposal of these items.
Free
Christmas tree pickup only includes the removal of one tree per
household. Additional Christmas trees can be removed and billed at a
rate of (Prices may have changed!) $10 per tree. After January 31, any Christmas tree pickups
scheduled will be used as the residents' free monthly yard waste
extra pickup.
- Westfield, IN - offers curbside pick up
of trees through the week of January 15.
