The Annual Grinding of the Greens Christmas Tree Recycling program, a Fayetteville holiday tradition for 28 years, encourages Fayetteville residents to recycle their live Christmas trees. Recycling the trees prevents them from ending up in landfills.

The Cumberland-Fayetteville Parks and Recreation will collect the trees from Fayetteville city residents in a special tree pickup beginning Monday, Jan. 10. These pickups are separate from yard waste, trash or recycle pickups. City residents should put their trees out for curbside collection by the morning of Jan. 10. All lights, stands and trimmings should be removed from the tree before placing them on the curb.

Residents who live outside the City or miss the pickup may drop off trees at the Fayetteville Community Garden, located at the corner of Van Story and Mann Street just off Old Wilmington Road, anytime before Jan. 15.

Public Works Commission and Department of Environmental Protection volunteers will grind the trees into mulch at the Community Garden on Jan. 15. This mulch will be used for the Fayetteville Community Garden and other local parks.