‘Grinding of the Greens’underway

The Cherokee County Recycling Center has started its yearly collection of unwanted Christmas trees for its eighth annual “Grinding of the Greens” project.

County residents are invited to dispose of their Christmas trees by dropping them off at the recycling center, director Bill Schalk said. Trees can be dropped off during the recycling center’s regular hours Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. until p.m.

The recycling center is asking residents to make sure trees are free of lights and decorations before dropping them off. The trees will be ground into mulch and distributed to county residents in April.

“We already had a small pile of Christmas trees at the recycling center today so we will be going forward with it. We will accept trees all the way up until February,” Schalk said. “People can drop their Christmas trees off and do something positive for the environment at the same time. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

Schalk said he is still finalizing the details regarding who will handle the actual grinding of the Christmas trees. An announcement will be made once a date is selected for distribution of the Christmas tree mulch.

The amount of mulch distributed to residents will be based on how many Christmas trees are recycled, Schalk said. In previous years, the recycling center has received between 100 and 200 Christmas trees to process through its “Grinding of the Greens” project.