How to recycle your Christmas tree and holiday lights in Anchorage and Mat-Su

As the end of the holiday season approaches, the drooping Christmas tree shedding evergreen needles on your living room floor will eventually need to go.

Residents in Anchorage and surrounding areas can drop off their live trees to be recycled for free at the following Carrs stores:

• Fairview, 1340 Gambell St.

• Russian Jack Springs Park, 5600 DeBarr Road

• Muldoon, 7731 E. Northern Lights Blvd.

• Aurora Village in Spenard, 1650 W. Northern Lights Blvd.

• Lower Hillside, 1725 Abbott Road

• South Anchorage, 1501 Huffman Road

• Jewel Lake, 4000 W. Dimond Blvd.

• Eagle River, 11409 Business Park Blvd.

• Palmer, 664 Evergreen Ave.

The trees are recycled into wood chips and used for trail cover, erosion control and fragrant mulch for landscaping, according to Anita Nelson, executive director of Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling, a local nonprofit that coordinates the annual drop-off.

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The trees should be free of decorations, lights and plastic bags, and should be dropped off in designated areas in the stores’ parking lots only, Nelson said.

Only trees — no wreaths — are accepted, because wreaths often contain metal or wire that can damage the wood-chipping machines, Nelson said. The trees will be accepted from now until Jan. 15.

Anyone who needs help disposing of their tree can call 907-868-8899 to connect with a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints youth group that can pick up the tree within the Anchorage Bowl for a donation, Nelson said.

Recycling a tree is preferable to leaving it to dry out in the backyard or woods, where it can eventually become a fire hazard, Nelson said.

“The season of giving can also be the season of being responsible,” she said. “This program allows people to take an item that would otherwise take up space in the landfill, and turn it into something useful.”

The yearly program has collected an average of 6,000 trees a year since it started in 2007, according to Nelson.

Recycling holiday lights

Residents can also recycle their holiday string lights and bulbs for free at the Anchorage Recycling Center, 6161 Rosewood St., in an outside lights bin that’s open 24/7.

Total Reclaim, an electronics recycling center in the Huffman Business Park that’s open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., will also accept string light donations.