Christmas trees can be recycled

Monday, Jan. 9, 2006 | 7:37 a.m.

As the holiday season ends and Las Vegas residents strip their evergreens of ornaments, the Springs Preserve says that Christmas trees can be recycled.

Every holiday season about 250,000 real Christmas trees are sold in Las Vegas, which could add another 2,500 tons of organic waste on top of the 8,000 tons of waste each day delivered to Clark County's Apex landfill northeast of Las Vegas.

Last year the Las Vegas Christmas tree recycling program turned 8,791 trees into mulch for gardens and parks throughout the valley. That's 76.4 tons of wood chips kept out of the local landfill, said Heather Kurlinski, a spokeswoman at the Springs Preserve.

"Recycling your Christmas tree is an easy way to support the community and help the environment by reducing the amount of recyclable material that ends up in a landfill," Kurlinski said.

This year the recycling program is based at the Gardens at the Springs Preserve, a 180-acre national historic site known as the birthplace of Las Vegas. The preserve will open to the public for tours in spring 2007.

The recycled trees, once turned into mulch, protect roots of plants and trees and help prevent weed growth, Kurlinski said. Mulch also protects roots from extremes in temperature and conserves water.

Trees can be recycled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Jan. 15 at the preserve, located at 3701 W. Alta Drive, east of Valley View Boulevard.

Joing the Springs Preserve in the recycling effort were the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, Clark County Air Quality and Environmental Department, Clark County Health District, Clark County Parks and Recreation, Conservation District of Southern Nevada, Evergreen Recycling, Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Nevada Division of Forestry, UNLV Rebel Recycling Program, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and Par-3 Landscape and Maintenance Inc.

For more information about the Christmas tree recycling program, call 258-3205 or visit www.springspreserve.org.

Mary Manning can be reached at 259-4065 or at manning@lasvegassun.com.