Groups to sponsor tree-recycling event

After the ornaments come off and the branches start turning brown, another season will have passed for area Christmas trees. After a season of brightening up the holidays, all that's left is find somewhere to dispose of them.

Metro Augusta/Columbia County Clean and Beautiful, with Georgia Power, has one idea to keep the trees from being illegally dumped.

The groups are holding a Bring One for the Chipper day Jan. 10 at Home Depot, 499 Bobby Jones Expressway.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Christmas trees will be chipped, and the mulch will be made available to the public as full trees for people with lakes and ponds to use them as water habitats. While supplies last, seedlings also will be provided in exchange for recycled trees.

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Jan. 10 is the only day the group is accepting Christmas trees, which should not be dropped off at Home Depot after that date.

Another site for former trees is the Columbia County landfill, 590 Baker Place Road. Until Jan. 8, trees can be dropped off at Riverside Middle School, 1095 Furys Ferry Road; and around Thurmond Lake at the Keg Creek Boat Ramp, Soap Creek Marina, Amity Boat Ramp, Cherokee Boat Ramp, Scotts Ferry Boat Ramp and Plum Branch Yacht Club.

For more information, call Metro Augusta/Columbia County Clean and Beautiful at 261-4390.