LEE COUNTY, GA (WALB) -
Christmas is over and your beautiful tree must eventually come down.
But instead of throwing it away, you can make sure it serves another purpose.
The Lee County Landfill is once again sponsoring the Bring One for the Chipper campaign and for the second year Lee County Fire Department is helping out.
"Christmas is over, it is a onetime deal, as far as the tree is concerned, it is a onetime deal so it benefits to recycle it," said Chief James Howell, Lee Co. Fire Dept.
Over the holiday season, 32,000,000 trees are cut down, 10,000,000 of those end up in landfills. Americans also generate an extra 5,000,000 tons of trash during the holidays.
"Everybody benefits from it when they take them in, they don't get discarded, they don't get stuck in places they shouldn't be, and so people don't set fire to them," said Howell.
You can bring your Christmas tree to the landfill or drop it off at the Century Fire Station on Highway 19.
"They take the trees out to the landfill, there they chip them up, once they are chipped up into mulch, people can come out there and get the mulch and put it in their flower beds," said Howell.
But if you don't want to turn it into mulch, you can recycle it your own way.
"Some people want their whole tree, some like to put them in their fish ponds, it is good breeding grounds for fish," said Howell.
So when your tree has lost its glow, give it a second life by recycling.
The Century Fire Station is located at 934 Highway 19 south.
Make sure you remove all decorations and stands.
And if you are bringing it to the landfill, they will accept tress Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Copyright 2012 WALB. All rights reserved.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WALB, a Raycom Media Station. 
