Now that Christmas is officially over, it’s almost time to start packing away holiday decorations until next year. And if you’re already thinking about what to do with your old Christmas tree, Keep Dawson County Beautiful is ready to help you out with that. 

Keep Dawson County Beautiful, a local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Georgia Beautiful, will sponsor a free Christmas tree disposal event for those looking to get rid of real trees, while helping out the environment. 

Kara Wilkins, executive director for Keep Dawson County Beautiful, said that those wanting to get rid of their trees can bring them to the Dawson County Transfer Station at 946 Burt Creek Road, where the trees will be collected at no charge and made into mulch. 

“It’s pretty much just a way for people to recycle their trees and then it turns into that mulch at the transfer station and other areas in the county where people can come and get free mulch when they need it,” Wilkins said, “or they use it to go through the county parks and freshen up the beds of the flowers and stuff like that — it’s just a way of recycling and turning it into reusable mulch.” 

According to representatives from the Dawson County Fire Department, dropping the Christmas trees at the transfer station is the safest way to dispose of them, rather than burning them or dumping them somewhere. 

“We recommend this as a way to discard the trees because it uses the whole tree; we don’t recommend burning discarded Christmas trees because they burn really hot really quickly, it’s very dangerous to do so even if you’re outside, and the needles burn up really rapidly so the trunk and limbs are still intact and you’re still left with the trunk of the tree,” Division Chief Jason Dooley said. “And we also don’t recommend discarding them into lakes or ponds because they can create an underwater hazard that can be dangerous while swimming.” 

The transfer station will be open to receive trees from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The station will be closed on Friday, Jan. 1 for New Year’s Day but will be open on Saturday, Jan. 2. 

Trees will be accepted through Jan. 31, allowing a little extra time for people who want to leave their trees up a bit longer. Before taking your tree to the transfer center, double-check that all ornaments and lights are removed from it.