As Schuylkill County residents take down their holiday decorations, local haulers are already collecting Christmas trees and will be busy over the next few weeks.
Krietzer Sanitation Inc. is the largest waste hauler in Schuylkill County and also provides services to Berks, Carbon, Luzerne and Columbia counties.
Krietzer has different contracts with each municipality regarding collections. Some agreements include tree collection in regular trash pickup, like in Pottsville. Other municipalities schedule a certain day for tree pickup.
Pottsville residents can also drop off their Christmas trees at the city garage at 425 E. Railroad St. Dan Kelly, superintendant of streets for the city, said Thursday that some people already started dropping off trees.
"We put them up on Sharp Mountain last year," Kelly said. "This year, we have a load of yard waste and will mulch them this year."
In Schuylkill Haven, Boy Scouts Troop 622 will collect trees throughout the borough Jan. 11. The scouts will go door to door all day to collect the trees for free. Donations are welcome to help the troop.
Last year, the trees were mulched at Reynolds Logging Co.
Troop 731 in Ringtown will collect trees Jan. 12.
"We put them out for rabbit habitats," Scoutmaster Charles "Chuck" Faust said Thursday.
Faust said the scouts usually collect about 100 trees each year.
"It's been going down the last few years because people are getting artificial trees," Faust said.
About 17 scouts will collect trees this year, he said.
"It gives people a place to put used trees so they don't get tossed into the landfill and it puts them back into the environment for animals to use them," Faust said.
For more information about tree disposal in your community, call your municipal office.