Madison County offers help with holiday recycling
In coordination with Madison County Planning and Development, townships and municipalities throughout the county are providing 28 drop-off sites for residents to dispose of their Christmas tree.
The Christmas Tree Recycling Program has operated successfully for the past 21 years in Madison County. The recycled trees are chipped into mulch and used in public gardens and parks across the community.
Rather than toss the tree in trash, take it to a recycling center. Trees will be accepted from Dec. 26 through Jan. 14, 2019. Trees will be chipped for mulch, all lights and ornaments must be removed prior to drop-off. Pine wreaths, pine roping, or other landscape waste is prohibited.
Planning and Development created a downloadable holiday recycyling guide on its Recycling 101 page (https://bit.ly/2T0j4On.) The guide depicts which holiday items can and cannot be placed in single stream recycling.
“By creating this guide, we hope to help residents recycle more during the holidays,” Eve Drueke, Resource Education Coordinator and creator of the guide, said.
Drueke said that during the holidays the average American throws away percent more trash and the additional waste can add up in a big way. She said there is both a “nice” and “naughty” list for how to recycle items.
Items on the “nice list” include all wrapping paper (no metallic or glitter paper, though), catalogs, paper gift bags with the handles removed, cardboard boxes, lottery tickets, paper tubes, and holiday cards without electronics or foil. Items on the “naughty list” that should not be included in single stream recycling include ribbon, bows, empty plastic ribbon spools, tissue paper, packing peanuts and Styrofoam.
Other common holiday items such as burnt out Christmas light strands, plastic bags, bubble wrap, and plastic air pillows, are recyclable but not in your single stream bin. These items can be dropped off at recycling bins found at many local stores.
Madison County residents can drop off trees at the following recycling centers.
Locations accepting trees include:
Alhambra/Alhambra Township: Village Maintenance Shed, 421 Elm St, Alhambra, curbside can be requested by calling 488-3505
Alton: Curbside only, call Public Works at 463-3530, option 0 to be placed on the pickup list
Collinsville: Willoughby Farm, 631 Willoughby Lane & Woodland Park, 2 Pine Lake Road, by the Fletcher Field parking lot
Collinsville Township: Collinsville Township Road District, 1407 N Bluff Rd, Collinsville, Curbside pickup for unincorporated Collinsville Township ONLY
Village of East Alton: City Garage, 331 Playground Court and curbside pickup
Edwardsville: Hoppe Park, Winston Brown Recreation Complex, 1325 Schiller Avenue, West end of parking lot
Edwardsville Township: Township Community Park, 6368 Center Grove Rd, Edwardsville, near the trash bin in the lower parking lot. Trees accepted until Jan. 31
Fort Russell Township: Highway Garage, 112 Clover St, Moro
Foster Township: Township Garage, 4754 Fosterburg Rd, Alton, behind garage
Glen Carbon: Bike Trail parking lot, Danzer Drive, Glen Carbon
Godfrey: Street Dept., 6212 Godfrey Rd, Godfrey
Granite City: Granite City Park District, Circle drive at end of 29th St, Granite City, Accepting trees from Dec 26 to Jan 11
Hamel/Hamel Township: Township Highway Department, 403 N Old US Route 66, Hamel
Hartford: Curbside pickup
Helvetia Township: Township Shed, 12466 Buckeye Rd, Highland
Leef Township: Township Garage, 12905 Niggli Road, N 160
Madison: Curbside pickup
Marine Township: Township Shed, 620 N Vernon St, Marine
Village of Maryville: Curbside pickup
Moro Township: 117 Montgomery St., Moro
Olive, Livingston & Williamson Townships: Olive Township Maintenance Facility, 8363 Frontage Rd, New Douglas
Pin Oak Township: Pin Oak Township Highway Departmentt, 3702 Tosovsky Ln, Edwardsville
Saline Township: Saline Township Shed, 3642 George St, Highland
St. Jacob Township: Township Highway Garage, 10048 Ellis Rd, St. Jacob
Troy: Tri-Township Park, 410 Wickliffe St, Troy
Wood River: Compost Site, 400 Smith Ct, Wood River
Wood River Township: Wood River Township Building, 1010 8th St, Cottage Hills, and curbside
*This complete list can be downloaded at https://bit.ly/2GIklJ1.
“Recycling can get confusing at any time, and even more so during the holidays,” Kim Lehmann, Resource Management Coordinator said.
Lehmann said that this is part of a new public relations campaign to educate the public and is in coordination with OneSTL to recycle responsibly. More information is available at www.recycleresponsibly.org
“By providing these resources, we hope to help to help residents recycle correctly,” she said.
