NAMPA, Idaho — The City of Nampa recycles Christmas trees to be used for Parks and Recreation in pathways and tree wells.
- The final day for trees to be donated is January 15
- Adam Mancini, City of Nampa Forester, explains the importance of recycling clean Christmas trees
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
It's a new year and an opportunity to give your Christmas tree a new purpose.
"We offer this program for the Nampa residents to bring their trees and utilize them for recycling for mulch," says City of Nampa Forester Adam Mancini.
The city appreciates its residents donating their Christmas trees, but reminds them to recycle clean, natural Christmas trees.
Not only for the sake of the equipment but for the safety of the grounds crews.
"We have some garland here that was brought and most cases you wouldn't think much of it, but there's wire wrapped around this garland. The reason why these things are not acceptable is because it could potentially damage the machine and equipment or harm the staff and crew that's doing the work and we want to avoid that," explained Mancini.
Garland wire is just one thing we found when mulching Christmas trees [on] Thursday. While some small ornaments wouldn't be a problem for the chipper, we found lights and paracord as well. Forester Adam Mancini has seen full tree stands and things even more dangerous.
"We have a tree here where someone put a block on the bottom of it and put screw into the bottom of it and the screws themselves can damage the equipment or injure someone while utilizing the chipper," Mancini continued.
The City collects used Christmas trees through donation drop-offs after the holidays pass, recycling the organic materials into mulch for city parks and walkways
"We've been doing the Christmas tree recycling for a little over 20 years," said Ryan Lancaster, Kohlerlawn Cemetery Sexton.
