Solid Waste Services Offers Solutions to Holiday Surplus
City Offers Pick Up of City-Coded Bags and Tree-Cycling Program
The City of Edmond’s Solid Waste Services offers two programs to assist residents with their Christmas tree and post-holiday overflowing trash carts. The week following Christmas, Solid Waste Services will pick up city-coded bags with the regular trash collection. In January, the tree-cycling program will be available for the eighth year.
Collection of City-Coded Bags
The post-holiday collection of blue city-coded bags will take place immediately after Christmas, Wednesday, December 26 though Monday, December 31. Residents can purchase the city-coded bags at local grocery and hardware stores. The cost of the bags, $1.50 each, covers the pick up and disposal fee. Residents do not need to call to schedule the post-holiday collection of the city-coded bags.
Place the bags at the curb along with the carts and be sure to maintain at least four feet between the green carts and the bags. For information about the holiday collection schedule, visit the city’s website at edmondok.com.
Tree-Cycling
Approximately 33 million live Christmas trees are sold in North America each year. After the holidays, many of those trees are disposed of and taken to the landfill. For the past eight years, the City of Edmond has encouraged tree-cycling – the recycling of Christmas trees into mulch.
Drop Off Locations
Edmond’s residential and commercial customers can drop off trees at Mitch Park or Hafer Park through the month of January. The drop off location for Mitch Park is the north parking lot adjacent to Marilyn Williams Drive. The Hafer Park drop off is the upper level of the parking lot adjacent to Bryant.
Curbside Collection
Residents who cannot drop off their tree can schedule a special free collection during the week of January 7 by calling the tree-cycling hotline at 359-4701 through January 6. Collection will be provided during the week starting January 7 and ending January 11.
The free tree pick-up is for residential customers only. Those who have called the hotline must place their tree at the curb before 7 a.m. on Monday, January 7th to be included in the collection. The tree may not be necessarily be picked up on the normal collection day so it must be at the curb early Monday morning.
The trees that are either collected at the curb or dropped off at one of the parks must have all tree stands, ornaments and nails removed. The trees are chipped into mulch that is available for pick up at Mitch Park after February 15th. There is no charge for the mulch and it is available on a first come, first serve basis.
Other Disposal Options
Other options for tree disposal include cutting the tree into smaller pieces and placing it in the cart for regular collection, scheduling a bulk collection or taking the tree to the Transfer Station at I-35 and Covell. The charge for the bulk collection is $3 and the fee for disposal at the transfer station is $1.50.
For information about the Solid Waste Services division of Edmond’s Public Works Department or other recycling programs, visit www.edmondok.com
Issued: December 27, 2007
