(Ailsa Chang)
Any Christmas tree left on the curb for pick-up has been going straight into the trash.
A spokesperson for the city sanitation department has told WNYC that the annual Christmas tree recycling program has been canceled this year because the department has been overwhelmed with cleaning up after the December 26th blizzard and catching up on backlogged garbage and recycling collection.
Although the sanitation department's website still incorrectly advertises special Christmas tree collections for mulching, sanitation officials now say New Yorkers who want to get their tree chopped up and recycled need to do that on their own.
Christine Datz-Romero at the Lower East Side Ecology Center says this cancellation is a pattern.
"Whenever we have an emergency, recycling suffers," said Datz-Romero. "Christmas tree recycling has been suspended before because of budget cuts, and it just really undermines the credibility of recycling programs."
Eric Goldstein,a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, echoed her remarks.
"The Department of Sanitation has its hands full, and obviously snow removal has to be its first priority, but it’s disappointing that for one reason or another, recycling usually seems to be last on the list at the Sanitation Department," said Goldstein.
The Parks Department's MulchFest -- where people can personally tow their trees to designated sites for mulching -- already took place last weekend. Parks Department officials say no future MulchFests are being planned for this year.
Datz-Romero says New Yorkers can at least try recycling a few branches off their Christmas trees and layer tree pits with this debris to help insulate them during the snowy weather.
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who covers criminal justice, terrorism and the courts for WNYC. She found her way into public radio after practicing law for five years, and can definitely say that walking the streets of New York City with a microphone is a lot more fun than being holed up in the office writing letters to opposing counsel.
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