Turn Your Christmas Trees Into Park District Mulch

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 3, 2013 8:45PM

The Chicagoist Christmas tree still holds its needles firm. (Chicagoist/Chuck Sudo)

I bought a real tree for Christmas for the first time in years this season and I think I chose well. It's held its needles well—I shook it to be sure—and the smell of the tree was a welcome respite to my apartment's normal odors of socks, beer and cured meats.

It's time to bid this tree adieu and I'm thisclose to tossing it with the ornaments, lights and the Mexican wrestling mask that tops it out the window of my home office before it truly becomes a fire hazard. I can wait until Saturday, when the Chicago Park District opens its period for recycling old Christmas trees. From Jan. 5 through Jan. 18, drop off your trees at any of the parks below and the Park District will run it through a chipper and turn it into mulch. The Park District will even let you have free mulch made from spent trees beginning Jan. 11.

Here are the locations to recycle your trees.

Bessemer Park
8930 S. Muskegon Ave.

Clark Park
3400 N. Rockwell St.

Forestry Site
900 E. 103rd St.

Garfield Park
100 N. Central ParkAve.

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. (Parking lot east of Cannon Dr.)

Margate Park
4921 N. Marine Dr.

Marquette Park
6700 S. Kedzie Ave.

McKinley Park
2210 W. Pershing Rd.

Mt. Greenwood Park
3721 W. 111th St.

North Park Village
5801 N. Pulaski Rd.

Norwood Park
5801 N. Natoma 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.

Warren Park
6601 N. Western Ave.

Wentworth Park
5701 S. Narragansett Ave.