Let’s get chips, Bushwick — and not the kind “dry January” people get at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Bring your holiday tree to MulchFest at Maria Hernandez Park this Saturday or Sunday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and turn it into wood chips that will be used to nourish other trees and plants citywide.
The annual event, organized by NYC Parks, the Department of Sanitation, and GreeNYC, recycles your tree’s yuletide remains into mulch that helps insulate young trees from the cold weather. If you don’t want to donate your tree to the city, organizers will still chip it and give you your own bag of mulch for free.
To get your tree chipped, all lights, ornaments, and sparkly stuff must be removed and brought to one of the many chipping stations throughout the city. Maria Hernandez is the only station in Bushwick, East Williamsburg, and Williamsburg proper.
The NYC Department of Sanitation will also be conducting curbside collections of Christmas trees for mulching and recycling now until Saturday, January 13. But they won’t be dropping personal mulch bags at your door, sadly.
Last year, 26,000 trees were recycled during MulchFest. Let’s grow that number this year!
Cover image courtesy of Denise Johnson on Unsplash