Community Composting Programs– Contact your city to see if your trash company has a Christmas Tree recycling program. If your city does not have a program, speak with your city officials to see how you might make that program happen.
2. Mulch- Chop your own tree into mulch using a wood chipper, let the chips set out, and decompose over winter, then use it as mulch in the spring.
3. Bird Sanctuary- Remove all the decorations from the tree and set it out in your back garden with orange slices, popcorn, and peanut butter wreaths attached. It will make a great bird feeder and sanctuary through winter. In the spring break apart as yard waste.
4. Soil Erosion- Christmas trees make good soil erosion barriers. Check with your local park district or land management group to see if they will take the tree and use it for their river shoreline stabilization efforts.
5. Insulation- Cut the limbs off of your Christmas tree and use them as added winter protection on your garden beds. In the spring, simply slip the limbs into a yard waste container for curbside pick up for your community composting program.
6. Get a Live Tree In The Future - At the top of this story you see a photo of a Norfolk Pine tree that was kept indoors for many years. Every year my mother-in-law would weigh the limbs down a bit and decorate them as our family Christmas tree. It stayed indoors as a houseplant year-round and was perfect as a holiday decoration. We called it our little Charlie Brown tree.