Green options available for recycling Christmas trees in Butler County
For all the joy decorating the Christmas tree brings, it may bring an equal amount of pain to get the Christmas tree back outside without leaving a trail of water and needles from the living room to the door.
If residents aren’t planning to leave the tree up all year, there’s plenty of convenient and environmentally friendly options for disposal without the hassle and repercussions of illegal dumping.
Most municipalities offer some form of curbside pickup. Adams Township, for instance, will accept Christmas trees from Dec. 26 to Jan. 11 at the splash pad parking lot in Adams Township Community Park.
In Butler Township, Christmas trees placed at residents’ curbs from Dec. 26 through Jan. 31 will be collected at no extra cost. Trees that exceed 7 feet in length must be cut.
Seneca Landfill will accept Christmas trees for $5 per tree through Jan. 31 for composting. Trees must be free of decorations and plastic.
For more environmentally friendly options, Butler County’s 2025 Holiday Recycling Guide recommends creating habitats for birds, fish and other wildlife. Parts of the tree can also be used for firewood, mulch compost or decor.
There’s no reason children cannot continue getting joy out of the Christmas tree after the holiday season. The National Wildlife Federation recommends setting up the tree outside and attaching edible ornaments to begin a hobby of bird watching.
Edible ornaments can be made from things like nuts, popcorn, bread and fruit, which can be helpful when insects are scarce during the winter months.
The federation also recommends composting the tree to use as insulation in gardening to protect seedlings and fertile soil from cold air.
PennState Extension recommends placing cut tree branches in a yard to act as insulation for plants on the ground that will grow in spring.
For next year, the federation recommends always buying Christmas trees, greenery and firewood locally to prevent the spread of invasive species. It said gypsy moths, pine shoot beetle, balsam woolly adelgid and Phytophthora ramorum — a funguslike pathogen, are commonly spread when Christmas trees are shipped from one place to another and all can cause sudden oak death.
It said the invasive Asian bittersweet and multiflora rose can also spread from ornamental berries on wreaths.
Pennsylvania has more than 1,400 Christmas tree farms, which produce more than 1 million trees to choose from, according to the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association. The state ranks third nationally in the number of Christmas tree farms.
