Once the holidays are over, it’s time to take down your Christmas tree. If yours was fresh-cut, consider recycling it. Think of it as “re-gifting” it to Mother Earth. Doris Taylor, plant information specialist at The Morton Arboretum shares some simple ideas for giving fresh-cut Christmas trees new uses.

One of the best things you can do is to give it to the birds. “Winter birds appreciate the cover of a tree, especially if decorated with bird food ornaments,” said Taylor. Tie the tree to a stake or post to prevent it from blowing away in winter winds. Or lay the tree on its side and scatter birdseed around it. Just be sure to remove any Christmas decorations, especially tinsel, which can hurt birds if they eat them.

One caveat: Once birds get used to feeding at a spot, they will return to feed for the rest of the winter. If all the food runs out, replenish it or they will go hungry.

If you can’t make that commitment, give your tree to your flowerbeds. Cut up the branches and use them as winter mulch on perennial flowerbeds. “Place evergreen boughs on top of low growing plants for protection, especially in late winter, when freezing and thawing of the soil heaves shallow-rooted perennials out of the ground,” said Taylor.

Or you can pass it down to your peonies. In the spring, use large branches to stake your peonies. Then convert the trunk into a trellis for climbing vines or tomatoes.

Other branches can be dispensed to a winter display. Arrange them in a large container near your door, porch or some other focal point. Add other greenery and decorations, such as barberry, cones, dried grasses, berries and seedpods.

Here’s an idea for recycling multiple trees: Ask your neighbors for their Christmas trees and make temporary windbreaks to shield tender, broadleaf evergreens like rhododendrons or young, newly planted evergreens, suggested Taylor. This can work if there’s already a fence, stakes or post nearby that you can tie the trees to. If not, keep it in mind for next year and plan to install stakes next fall.

Another good choice is to send it to the chipper. Many towns have fresh-cut Christmas tree recycling programs where trees are chipped up to make mulch for parks or to give back to homeowners. Sometimes trees can be picked up curbside. Other towns have drop-off locations.

You can find by zip code a list of municipalities or facilities that recycle Christmas trees at www.christmastree.org. If you live in Chicago, you can drop off your tree at one of more than 20 locations. Visit the Streets and Sanitation page at www.cityofchicago.org or call 311 for a list of fresh-cut tree recycling locations.

Glad You Asked

Q. Can I burn my Christmas tree in my fireplace?
A. It’s a bad idea. Dried out Christmas trees burn too hot for home fireplaces. When burned, pine and fir trees produce highly flammable creosote, which can stick to the inside of the chimney and potentially cause a chimney fire. Plus, the high pitch content in bark and needles create intense heat that can send large sparks flying across the room or up the chimney to the roof.

We will be posting additional ways the Arboretum is working on the three Rs on RECYCLE, REUSE and REDUCE. Check back to see what else is happening. And let us know what you are doing at home or at your place of business.

RECYCLE
• Arboretum employees recycle office waste, Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) and batteries.
• Cardboard and packing materials are collected for recycling.
• Construction materials such as metals and asphalt are recycled or saved for reuse.
• Tyvec envelopes are collected and recycled into building materials.
• A depository for used Visitor Maps is located outside of the Visitor Center.

REDUCE
• Trees removed from the grounds are reused as lumber for benches or other needed wood materials or shredded into mulch for the trail system.
• Landscape waste is composted for use in planting beds and construction projects.
• New napkin dispensers are on each table in the Ginkgo Restaurant. Studies show that fewer napkins are used if customers have easy access to them.
• The Volunteer Office has gone paperless. Starting in February 2008, the 900+ volunteers access Branches newsletter on the Arboretum website and other information through email.
• 100% recycled paper is used by all departments in printers and copiers.

Arboretum Resource Conservation Committee
The Morton Arboretum’s RCC was formed to develop methods for evaluating the state of resource conservation in our facilities and to recommend methods for improvement. The group, comprised of representative from each department at the Arboretum, meets monthly. Many of the organization’s initiatives are a result of their efforts. An intranet presence has been created for the RCC to educate and further encourage the 3 Rs – Recycle, Reuse, Reduce – and maybe a fourth: RETHINK.

The Morton Arboretum goal:  ZERO WASTE by 2017

REDUCE
Pollution
• The Arboretum maintains their fleet of vehicles and equipment frequently to ensure efficient use and a reduction of air pollution
• The Arboretum grounds are now open to biking! Bring your bike and get some exercise while reducing pollution.
• A no-idling policy is in place to reduce pollution. The policy states no diesel vehicle should idle more than 10 minutes in adherence with the state law.

Energy Consumption
• The Facilities department has replaced incandescent bulbs with CFLs and continues to upgrade all lighting to more energy efficient systems.
• Building automation systems are installed in both the Visitor Center and Thornhill Education Center to control temperatures, establish set points and turn systems down in the evenings
• Automatic light switches are being tested in several offices and restrooms in the buildings.

Since its founding in 1922, the Arboretum has demonstrated sustainable practices to benefit the community. As an outdoor museum, the Arboretum showcases trees as essential elements of livable communities and a healthful environment. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the major source of greenhouse gas (up to 50 pounds per tree each year), and release oxygen. They shelter and provide nesting habitats for wildlife, retain moisture in soils, hold topsoil in place, and provide shade and cooling.

REDUCE
Water Consumption
• To reduce the use of municipal water, the Arboretum uses water from Meadow Lake to supply the irrigation systems in the core visitor area. This saved over 6 million gallons of domestic water in 2007. The Thornhill campus also uses a well water system to irrigate adjacent areas.

• Water conservation flush valves have been installed on all toilets in the Visitor Center to conserve water. The green handles will use 30% less water when pulled up or the typical 1.6 gallons of water if pushed down for a flush.

Plastic Use
• Twenty-ounce plastic soft drink bottles are collected and donated to Terra Cycle where they are reused for packaging their products

• Volunteers and employees wash plastic planters acquired when purchasing plants from nurseries that are then reused. The plastic these containers are made of is difficult to recycle and that service is currently not available in this area.

Since its founding in 1922, the Arboretum has demonstrated sustainable practices to benefit the community. As an outdoor museum, the Arboretum showcases trees as essential elements of livable communities and a healthful environment. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the major source of greenhouse gas (up to 50 pounds per tree each year), and release oxygen. They shelter and provide nesting habitats for wildlife, retain moisture in soils, hold topsoil in place, and provide shade and cooling.

Tree-lined Chicago streets provide a picturesque image, but that image is likely to change with the recent discovery of Emerald ash borer (EAB) within city limits. Does the EAB find mean infested trees must go to the chipper? The simple answer is no.

Just as these ash trees have brought beauty to Chicago streets, they can be reclaimed and reused to create new, practical and striking creations. Some marvelous examples were recently on display at the Rising from Ashes: Furniture from Lost Trees, a traveling furniture exhibition at The Morton Arboretum that ran from August 22 – September 7.

“The show provided an opportunity to raise awareness, share with a greater audience, and bring the problems of EAB to the forefront. Through this exhibition, we hoped to show that art and beauty can be created out of wood that would otherwise be wasted,” said Anamari Dorgan, Arboretum Manager of Interpretation and Exhibits.

The exhibition, which was a joint venture between the Arboretum and the Chicago Furniture Designers Association (CFDA), emphasized the value of urban forests and the destructive effects of EAB. Some 30 pieces of furniture, created by CFDA members out of ash wood felled due to EAB infestation, were featured during this exhibition with messages focusing on the Emerald ash borer, the steps to process harvested ash trees into lumber, the furniture making process and the properties of ash and its uses.

Ash wood has excellent working properties that make it suitable for a multitude of different projects. It is generally straight-grained, with cream-colored sapwood and brown to grayish-brown heartwood. Because the Emerald ash borer does not damage or even reach the heartwood, there is no danger of spreading EAB when reclaiming infested wood. It can be used as furniture, flooring, cabinetry and sporting goods such as baseball bats. Trees not  suitable for lumber can be used to generate heat or electricity, as mulch or as wood chips.

Chicago streets contain an estimated 20 percent ash. Illinois has an estimated 131 million ash trees. Dead, damaged, diseased or otherwise unwanted urban trees could supply nearly a quarter of the annual hardwood consumed in America, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Therefore, by reclaiming and reusing trees that would otherwise be destroyed, there would be less need to remove perfectly healthy trees for lumber.

The Illinois Emerald Ash Borer Wood Utilization Team, which is chaired by Arboretum arborist and Community Trees Advocate Edith Makra, is working to facilitate the follwing four “building blocks” that will be essential for urban timber to see a new life:

1. Arborists must bring down urban trees in a manner that leaves their wood marketable, that is, in sections at least eight feet long. In conventional techniques, arborists remove trees in much shorter sections.

2. We need more local sawyers able to cut and process urban timber, which is often variable in quantity, character and availability.

3. Wood workers and others who purchase wood need to be aware that urban timber could meet their needs.

4. Consumers need to request and purchase products made of urban timber.

“Urban trees in general are treated as waste. There is valuable lumber in our landscape trees that can and should be harvested,” Makra says.