St. Charles Parish will collect discarded Christmas trees for coastal restoration again this year, which marks the 36th year of the program.
Residents can place their trees curbside from Jan. 5-7 for pick up, or they can drop-off Christmas trees from Dec. 29-Jan 14 at the following locations: East Bank Bridge Park, West Bank Bridge Park, IMTT Field, Monsanto Park, Montz Park and Des Allemands Playground.
Christmas trees collected for recycling must be bare (no stands, lights, ornaments, tinsel or plastic) and natural Christmas trees (no flocked, artificial or painted trees) for recycling in the marsh.
After they are collected, the trees are placed into established pens in the marsh where they create a new wildlife habitat and help slow erosion.
Gabrielle Rankin, a spokesperson for the parish, said St. Charles Parish was the first parish to start the Christmas tree recycling program in 1989 when it partnered with Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.
“Since then, 15 other parishes have participated in the Christmas tree recycling program,” Rankin said.
Last year, approximately 700 trees were recycled.
“The Christmas tree recycling program is important because the trees serve several functions,” Rankin said. “Firstly, it keeps the trees out of landfills, and it also helps counter coastal erosion by creating a barrier. This barrier helps, in turn, trap sediment behind it, which aids in land building and protects the shoreline from wave action during storms and hurricanes.”
Louisiana is experiencing a land loss crisis that has claimed nearly 2,000 square miles of land since the 1930s. Without action to preserve the marshes and swamps, which help to reduce storm surges and the impacts of flooding, the state could lose another 3,000 square miles over the next 50 years, according to the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.
