Not sure what to do with that outdated Christmas tree?

One suggestion is to haul it into a vehicle and drop it off at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill.The center, located at 151 E. White Bear Drive, is once again accepting old, natural Christmas trees as part of its recycling program, according to naturalist Franklin Klock."Here in Carbon County, we figure about 9,000 Christmas trees go to the curb each year," Klock said. "If they end up in a landfill, they will take up the space of about four football fields in size, 8 feet in height."Klock added, "We try to reduce whatever goes to a landfill at all costs."He said the trees are biodegradable, and that it can take 35 years for a Christmas tree to break up in the ground.Klock suggested that people who have large yards or property take their trees down to the corner of their yard and stand it against an older tree, as birds will use it, and it will eventually break down.Others with smaller yards are invited to bring them to the environmental center, where they will make a natural hedgerow along a farm field next to them, he said.However, Klock said the trees must be completely devoid of all decorations, tinsel, lights and hooks.He stressed that the center only accepts Christmas trees, and does not accept any kind of yard debris, wreaths or garland.People who put their trees in a plastic bag are urged to remove them from the bag once they arrive at the center, Klock said.With the spillover, he said the trees will be left on a pile, and at some point between now and summer, the CCEEC will have someone come in with a large industrial chipper and grind the trees into mulch.What's more, anyone who would like the mulch can come to the center and have it for free, Klocksaid.The mulching program began at the center in 2007, while trees have been collected at the site since around the early 1980s, he said.For more information, call 570-645-8597, or visit

www.carboneec.org.