Christmas is over, which means the Fraser fir in your living room will soon meet its end on cold pavement. As many as 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States each year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. In the coming weeks, Americans will toss theirs to the curb, leaving many cities blanketed in bark.
Before New York City completed the rollout of its curbside composting program this year, Christmas tree collection trucks would roam the streets for about two weeks every January. In 2023, the Sanitation Department collected more than 1,000 tons of trees throughout the five boroughs. (Beginning this year, trees in all five boroughs will be rolled into the composting program.)
Which borough produced the most tree waste? Here’s looking at you, Manhattan, with 340 tons dumped in January 2023. It was followed by Queens, which produced 306 tons, followed by Brooklyn (about 246 tons), the Bronx (106 tons) and Staten Island (72 tons). Our festive findings were drawn from NYC Open Data, which includes information published by the Sanitation Department.
When factoring the number of housing units in each borough, Staten Island actually pulled ahead, with about 0.78 pounds of tree trash per home. Manhattan — temporary home of the 74-foot Rockefeller Center tree — was second by this measure, with about 0.73 pounds per home, followed by Queens (0.67 pounds), Brooklyn (0.44 pounds) and the Bronx (0.38 pounds). The estimated number of housing units in each borough came from the 2023 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey.
With curbside composting now available across the city, New Yorkers can discard their Christmas trees at the curb with other organic waste. Most of the trees will be sent to compost facilities in the Bronx or Staten Island, where they’ll be turned into mulch for parks and other community spaces. New Yorkers can also lug their trees to one of several public parks for mulching.
As for when to throw out your tree, there’s no time like the present. Consider this your first reminder.
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