Another Christmas has come and gone, now comes the question that hits most Upper East Side residents who bought a natural Christmas tree as soon as the holiday ends: ‘How do I get rid of it?’ Once again, NYC Parks is making it easy to recycle your gently-used tree with its annual Mulchfest event.
Starting Monday, Upper East Side residents can bring their unwanted Christmas tree to the Mulchfest drop-off site located inside the entrance to Carl Schurz Park at East 86th Street and East end Avenue. Just stop by during regular park hours.
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If you’re not ready to part with your tree just yet, you can wait to bring it in until final two days of Mulchfest, Saturday, January 7th and Sunday, January 8th.
On those days, drop off your tree between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm and you’ll be able to see your it chipped on site. NYC Parks will even give you a bag of your own Christmas tree mulch to take home, which they say makes a great winter bed for tree on the street.

Last year, NYC Parks says more than 50,000 trees were recycled and this year they’re hoping to top that number.
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For those that can’t make it to Mulchfest, your tree can be picked up by the Department of Sanitation if you set it out by the curb, but not for a couple of weeks. DSNY trucks will only pick up Christmas trees for recycling from Friday, January 6th through Saturday, January 14th.
Just remember to remove all decorations, ornaments, lights and netting from tree before setting it out for pickup or dropping it off at Mulchfest.
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