Waste Management of San Diego

Contact: Sarah Huoh, Public Relations Manager
(714) 685-6487 / (949) 283-8486 (mobile)

Give Your Christmas Tree A Second Life
Waste Management of San Diego Offers Christmas Tree Recycling; Hauler’s Collection Schedule Modified by One Day During Both Holiday Weeks

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 15, 2006 - The Christmas tree is the symbol of the holiday season for many people, and it can have a useful life once the ornaments are packed away.

Waste Management of San Diego provides our residential customers in East County the opportunity to recycle their trees after the holiday season by cutting them up and placing them into their greenwaste recycling carts during the two weeks following Christmas.

Before placing the trees into the greenwaste cart for recycling, be sure to remove all decorations, including ornaments, tinsel, lights and the tree stand. Flocked trees cannot be recycled, but will be collected if cut into four-foot sections and placed into the regular trash cart.

The company’s customers in multi-family complexes in El Cajon or Santee should contact customer service at (619) 596-5100 for more details about tree recycling. Trees may also be dropped off for free at Waste Management’s recycling and buyback center, located at 925 O’Conner St. in El Cajon, just south of the intersection of Bradley Ave. and Johnson Ave. The recycling and buyback center will accept trees for drop-off Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon.

“Every year in California, more than 40,000 tons of Christmas trees require handling at the end of the holiday season. Most communities throughout the state recognize that the final proper resting place for cut Christmas trees is not our landfills,” said Carl Scherbaum, District Manager of Waste Management of San Diego. “If you have a live tree in your home, please recycle it when the holidays are over. The trees can be made into wood chips and mulch for gardens.”

Trees collected in the curbside program will be mulched for reuse.

Pick-up Schedule Delayed by One Day During the Holidays

Because Christmas and New Year’s Day both fall on Mondays, Waste Management’s waste and recycling pick-up schedules will be delayed by one day during the weeks of Dec. 25, 2006, and Jan. 1, 2007.

This means customers in the following cities should place their bins out for pick-up one day later than usual during both weeks, beginning on Dec. 26 through Dec. 30, and also Jan. 2 through Jan. 6:

“Customers who usually receive service on Monday will instead receive it Tuesday, and so on throughout the remainder of the week, with Friday’s customers receiving service on Saturday,” said Scherbaum. “We appreciate our customers’ cooperation with the holiday schedule so that all of our employees can observe Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.”

The local Waste Management office, buyback center and the customer service center will be closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, and will re-open for normal operations on the Tuesdays after both holidays.

Customer service is available at 1(800) DUMPSTER or (619) 596-5100, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m.

Waste Management is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. For more information about recycling, log onto www.wm.com.

Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout North America.