How Madison residents can get rid of their Christmas Tree

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – Now that Christmas is over, the Madison Streets Division has released details on how they will collect trees this year. Streets Division crews will collect trees on two days: January 2 and January 16. 

Crews will only collect trees, and all wreaths, boughs, and other natural decorations should be thrown in the trash. Items like wreaths contain wires, and can get caught in they city’s mulching equipment. Trees need to be set out on the curb by 6:30AM the day of collection. Trees can also be taken to any of the city’s drop-off sites at any point. 

Streets Division officials ask that all trees be removed from their tree stand, regardless of whether they are metal or wood, and should have all decorations removed. Trees should not be placed in any sort of bag. Failure to follow these rules may result in your tree not being collected. 

Trees should be placed on the terrace or edge of the road along a public street, and must be accessible to collection crews. Trees should be at least four feet from any obstructions, like utility poles and fire hydrants. Crews cannot enter private property to collect any item.

If your tree is not picked up on either of the two scheduled collection days, crews will not be collecting any brush again until regular brush collection starts again in the spring.

If a snowstorm occurs on the scheduled tree pickup days, Streets Division staff may be diverted to clear snow from the roads instead, and pickups may be delayed. If your tree becomes buried in snow and ice before pickup, they will need to be cleared and dug out for crews to collect them. Collection crews will not dig out any trees that are buried in snow.

Once the trees are collected, the city brings them to their brush processing center where they can be ground up into mulch. Madison residents are able to get small quantities of free wood mulch from the brush processing center, and can purchase larger quantities of mulch.