Live Trees are a great choice in the Pacific Northwest!
It's the time of the year when live Christmas trees fill our homes with the scent of fresh evergreen. In the Pacific Northwest, real trees are often the preference, and a favorite choice of many environmentalists. That's because live Christmas trees are a renewable resource - and a recyclable resource. Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics and possible metal toxins such as lead.
If you're wondering what to do with your Christmas Tree after the holidays. Remember, in Clark County 
it's easy to recycle it.
Recyling Trees is the best choice.
Consider this, if 10,000 trees were recycled we would save the weight of a blue whale in waste from entering landfills. That's a pretty impressive visual isn't it?
You have a variety of choices too.
Here's the curbside pick up that makes Christmas Tree recycling easy and hassle free.
Clark County, Vancouver, Ridgefield, Camas, Battle Ground, Yacolt, and Washougal yard debris curbside recycling customers may set out tree (5 feet or less) in or next to their yard debris cart on regular yard debris collection day. The yard debris cart should be placed next to the tree. If tree is in addition to the 96-gallon limit of yard debris, a fee of $2.12–$3.05 will be charged depending on your collection area.
Or take your tree to:
Central Transfer and Recycling Center
11034 NE 117th Avenue Vancouver WA (360) 256-8482
$1 each for first three trees.
City Bark
2419 NE Andresen Road Vancouver, WA (360) 253-8461
$1 each
H&H Wood Recyclers
8401 NE 117th Avenue, Vancouver, WA (360) 892-2805
$1 each
McFarlane's Bark
8806 NE 117th Avenue, Vancouver, WA (360) 892-6125
$2 each
Triangle Resources
612 SE Union, Camas, WA (360) 834-7253
$2 each
Washougal Transfer Station
4020 South Grant St., Washougal, WA (360) 835-2500
$1 each for first three trees.
West Van Materials Recovery Center
6601 NW Old Lower River Road, Vancouver, WA (360)-737-1727
$1 each for first three trees
For more information call Clark County Environmental Services, Solid Waste Program, (360) 397-2121 ext. 4352.
Give your tree back to nature!
Of course, you could really go natural and let your tree biodegrade as a bird feeder. However, you'll need the right spot (private) to avoid complaints from the neighbors. Here's advice from the Christmas Tree Association.
Place the Christmas tree in the garden or backyard and use it as a bird feeder and sanctuary. Fresh orange slices or strung popcorn will attract the birds and they can sit in the branches for shelter. (Make sure all decorations, hooks, garland and tinsel strands are removed). Eventually (within a year) the branches will become brittle and you can break the tree apart by hand or chip it in a chipper. See this article from Perdue University for more information.
But for now, let's just enjoy the time we have left with our trees indoors. Oh tannenbaum, oh tannenbaum.
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