How to Dispose of Your Christmas Tree

David Garrison
Dec 22, 2025
3 min read

Doing Our Part to Keep 30 Million Christmas Trees Out of Landfills This Holiday Season

Every December, nearly 30 million Christmas trees decorate households across America. But once the season winds down, so many of those trees end up in the trash—taking up valuable landfill space that could easily be avoided.

Here in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, we’re lucky to have great options for Christmas tree recycling. With a little extra care, you can help transform your tree into something useful rather than waste. That small step makes a big difference for our communities, parks, wildlife, and environment.

🎄 Why Tree Recycling Matters

Christmas trees aren’t just seasonal décor. When recycled correctly, they can be repurposed into materials and resources that benefit people, animals, and ecosystems.

According to the Sierra Club, recycled Christmas trees can be used for:

Mulch for city parks, community landscaping, and farms
Reducing coastal erosion and protecting shorelines
Animal feed and enrichment for goats, zoos, and farms
Rebuilding sand dunes and restoring natural barriers
Creating wildlife habitats and fish shelters
Affordable fuel sources for certain energy programs

Instead of tossing that tree by the curb, you could be helping rebuild ecosystems, protect coastlines, and even support local farms.

🔥 Don’t Burn Your Tree at Home

While trees can be used as fuel in controlled recycling programs, they are not safe to burn in fireplaces or fire pits at home.

Tree sap and oils can:

Cause dangerous popping sparks
Release heavy smoke and toxins
Create creosote buildup, a leading cause of chimney fires

Let recycling facilities handle the safe processing. Your fireplace (and your insurance company!) will thank you.

🚫 What Happens if Trees Aren’t Recycled?

When trees are thrown away:

They take up massive landfill space
They decompose slowly without proper airflow
They release methane, a greenhouse gas more harmful than CO₂

Recycling turns a holiday leftover into a sustainable resource. Landfilling just creates more problems later.

🌟 Holiday Recycling Rule: The Tree Must Be Bare

To be accepted at a recycling center, your tree must be 100% natural and completely bare.

That means:

✔ NO ornaments

✔ NO lights

✔ NO hooks

✔ NO plastic or fake “snow” flocking

✔ NO tree stand

✔ NO garland

✔ NO tinsel — even tiny pieces

Even small leftover items can damage recycling equipment, contaminate mulch, or injure workers. If the tree isn’t completely natural, it will be rejected and sent to the landfill.

🎄 Simple rule: If it’s not a bare tree, it can’t be recycled.

✅ Where to Recycle Your Tree in Dallas–Fort Worth

If you live in or near Dallas, here are some of the easiest and most reliable places to drop off your undecorated, natural Christmas tree for recycling this season:

Location	Address / Notes
City of Dallas Sanitation Services – Transfer Stations & Landfill	Accepting trees Dec. 26 through Feb. 3 (no bagging or wrapping required). Real, undecorated trees only. Dallas City Hall+2Dallas City News+2
Northwest (Bachman) Transfer Station	9500 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas — ideal for 1 tree per household. Dallas City Hall+2Dallas City Hall+2
Northeast (Fair Oaks) Transfer Station	7677 Fair Oaks Ave., Dallas — a convenient eastern-side drop-off option. Dallas City Hall+1
McCommas Bluff Landfill	5100 Youngblood Rd., Dallas — accepts multiple trees (handy if you have more than one). Dallas City Hall+1

Outside the DFW area? You can use Earth911 to locate a recycling center accepting Christmas trees near you. In addition, some (but not all) Home Depot locations, Scouting troops, and nonprofits accept Christmas trees at no charge.