Let Your Tree Be the Gift that Gives to other Trees

MulchFest returns!

NYC makes it easy to respect the tree that brightened your holiday. Bring it to a NYC Park Mulchfest cite from December 26–January 7 or curb it (undecorated, unwrapped, unbagged) for DSNY pick up from January 5–13, 2024. This photo from 2022 shows a tree curbed on December 28 of that year — a week before the DSNY pick up. *Photo credit: Lori Ann Doyon*

There is a melancholy that comes with undecorating the Christmas tree. Possibly brought on by a mix of the holiday ending and that a once living tree that brought yuletide joy, will be stripped of its ornaments and lights and tossed out on the street. Oh Christmas tree, woe Christmas tree!

Doesn’t your tree deserve better? Mulchfest gives your Christmas tree the opportunity to live on. It will be chipped down to mulch, and this will be scattered around to protect public gardens and parks from the harshness of winter and decompose to fertilize spring flowers.

This year’s Mulchfest will run from December 26 through January 7. You can drop your tree off at a drop-off site or if you choose to bring your tree to a chipping site on the weekend of January 6 and 7 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. you will get a bag of mulch from your tree. North Brooklyn has 3 chipping sites Domino Park, McCarren Park, and Maria Hernandez Park. Monsignor McGolrick Park accepts trees but is a drop-off site only. You may drop off your tree from December 26–January 5 at a chipping site, but you’ll only get mulch if you take it there during the chipping weekend (January 6 and 7).

If you don’t have time to drop it off during Mulchfest, the NYC Department of Sanitation will be conducting curbside collections for mulching and recycling of Christmas trees from Friday, January 5 through Saturday, January 13, 2023 (weather permitting). Christmas trees and wreaths are collected separately from your trash and recycling. They are scouted at the curb to make efficient collection routes, so yours may not be picked up immediately.

Before leaving your tree at the curb or Mulchfest remember to: remove ALL lights, ornaments, and tinsel. Remove stands from trees and metal frames and wires from wreaths. Do NOT wrap trees/wreaths in ANY plastic or place inside a plastic bag.

These trees and wreaths will be chipped, mixed with leaves, and recycled into rich compost for NYC’s parks, institutions, and community gardens.

For more information on Mulchfest visit: https://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/festivals/mulchfest

For more information about tree curbside pick up visit: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/services/food-scraps-and-yard-waste-page/christmas-trees