Unusable Christmas Trees

Lisa C. Community, Daily Life, Newcomer Information

Welcome to today’s Residential Recycling & Disposal Info for Newcomers! Today, let’s learn how to properly recycle or dispose of unusable Christmas trees!

Unusable artificial Christmas trees
  • Artificial trees are usually made from PVC plastic and wires.
  • Break down unusable artificial trees and put them in your black cart as garbage.​
Real Christmas trees
  • A freshly cut real Christmas tree lasts three to four weeks and, when the time comes, belongs to your green cart, as real trees are compostable.
  • First remove all decorations, tinsel, lights and tree stands.
  • Then cut the tree into 1.25-metre lengths and less than 15 cm (six inches) in diameter.
  • If your green cart is full, place tree branches in paper yard waste bags and set at least 0.5 m to the side of your green cart for collection.
Learn about different carts here:

The City of Calgary has a residential recycling and disposal search tool. Check out the “What Goes Where” list here: https://www.calgary.ca/uep/wrs/what-goes-where/a-to-z-listing.html#P .

Word of the Day:

Tinsel: thin strips of shiny metal foil, paper or plastic used for decoration. Note that “tinsel” is an uncountable noun that does not have a plural form.