(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Sorry, the holidays are over. But if you live in Chicago, at least you can send off your Christmas tree in an environmentally friendly way.
The city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation and the Park District have teamed up for Chicago’s annual “Holiday Tree Recycling Program.” It will run Saturday through Jan. 22 at 26 locations, including a new South Side drop-off site at Mahalia Jackson Park.
Trees will be mulched instead of going into landfills, officials said.
“By recycling holiday trees at our annual program, Chicagoans are diverting trees away from landfills, where they would otherwise be releasing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating mulch that will benefit plants and soil at local parks and forests,” Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Cole Stallard said in a news release.
The natural trees can be dropped off inside tree-recycling corrals at the designated locations and must be free of ornaments, lights and tinsel. Six of the drop-off sites will have free mulch available starting Jan. 10.
Here are the locations:
• Bessemer Park, 8930 S. Muskegon Ave.
• Clark Park, 3400 N. Rockwell St.
• Forestry Site, 900 E. 103rd St. (mulch available)
• Garfield Park, 100 N. Central Park Ave.
• Grant Park, 900 S. Columbus Dr.
• Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1369 N. Sacramento Ave.
• Jackson Park, 6300 S. Cornell Ave.
• Kennedy Park, 2427 W. 113th St.
• Kelvyn Park, 4438 W. Wrightwood Ave.
• Lake Meadows Park, 3117 S. Rhodes Ave.
• Lincoln Park/Cannon Dr. at Fullerton Ave. (mulch available)
• Margate Park, 4921 N. Marine Dr. (mulch available)
• Mahalia Jackson Park, 8385 S. Birkhoff Ave.
• Marquette Park, 6700 S. Kedzie Ave.
• McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing Rd.
• Mt. Greenwood Park, 3721 W. 111th St. (mulch available)
• North Park Village, 5801 N. Pulaski Rd. (mulch available)
• Norwood Park (Service Yard), 5800 N. Avondale Ave.
• Portage Park, 4100 N. Long Ave.
• Riis Park, 6201 W. Wrightwood Ave.
• Rowan Park, 11546 S. Avenue L
• Sheridan Park, 910 S. Aberdeen St.
• Walsh Park, 1722 N. Ashland Ave.
• Warren Park, 6601 N. Western Ave. (mulch available)
• Wentworth Park, 5701 S. Narragansett Ave.
• West Chatham Park, 8223 S. Princeton Ave.