Christmas is over, you’ve undecorated your Christmas tree, and — what do you do with it now?
KidSport and the City of Port Alberni can help you with that.
Bring your tree to the AV Multiplex parking lot on Saturday, Jan. 3 and Sunday, Jan. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and for a donation city workers will throw your tree through the chipper.
Funds collected will be donated to KidSport, and the Parks, Recreation and Heritage Department will use the chipped material for compost, said KidSport president Ron Doetzel.
“The beauty of it is the material is ground down into chips and mulch and is used in parks’ composting. We believe there is a bit of a void there right now and there are a lot of Christmas trees that need a place to go,” Doetzel said.
Up until three years ago, volunteers from Boy Scouts used to drive around the city collecting trees by donation and had them chipped. However, no Boy Scout units have operated for the past two or three years so no one has been collecting trees. Volunteers with Alberni District Secondary School’s rugby team handed out cards about tree recycling with every Christmas tree they sold this year, helping to spread the word.
The tree chipping service “will prevent trees from being thrown or tossed into an alley,” park supervisor Jacob Colyn added.
KidSport is not providing pickup, however; people will have to bring their trees to the Multiplex themselves.
“We’re hoping people will know that they have to put their tree somewhere and will come by and drop it off at this location,” Doetzel said.
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