The town of Colonie is offering to make the Christmas clean-up a little easier for those who have trees they want to discard, according to town officials.
On weekdays through Friday, Feb. 26, crews will set out to collect discarded trees.
Christmas tree pick-up is just one small part of the resident services that make our Town a truly great place to live, and I thank all of our Town crews for their hard work in making this service possible, said Colonie Town Supervisor Paula Mahan in a statement.
Colonie Highway Maintenance Supervisor Dan Chambers said as many as 10 crews will be out each day.
The town’s highway department will oversee the program, according to information from the town.
`Picking up all these trees is a big job and a lot of hard work. It’s definitely a group effort, with everyone pitching in to get the job done as efficiently as possible,` said Chambers.
Colonie covers 56 square miles and has more than 330 miles of roads, according to information from the town.
The trees are collected and moved to a drop off point, and then collected by a larger truck, a method that helps speed up the process, Chambers said in a statement.
`We used to grind the trees as we picked them up, but this method is definitely more efficient and allows us to move across the Town much more quickly,` said Chambers.
The trees are grinded up in the town’s landfill and then used in the town’s compost, Joe Stockbridge, Colonie’s Director of Environmental Services said.
Stockbridge said ground-up material more than two inches long is not usable in the compost, but is used to fill in landfill roads when they are too muddy.
The town generates close 25,000 tons of compost from yard waste, Stockbridge said, with the trees make up a small part of that. The material is available to any resident who wants it, he said.
`Residents should place discarded Christmas trees on the edge of their property adjacent to the roadway edge or curb. All trees must be free of ornaments, plastic bags, metals and other contaminants. Wreaths containing metal or plastic rings will not be accepted and should be disposed of with the regular trash. Questions may be directed to the Division of Environmental Services at 783-2827 or at [email protected],` according to information from the town.
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