Are you wondering what to do with your fresh-cut Christmas tree now that Christmas is over? How about recycling it? If you have a landscape recycling center or compost facility nearby, take it there and it will be converted into a renewable mulch or compost. Before you recycle your tree, it must be undecorated – no ornaments or lights or tree stand.

In the Macon County area, people can drop off their undecorated trees at the Macon County Composting Facility. For more information, call the Facility at (217) 425-4505.

If you are the do-it-yourself type and want to recycle it on your own property, you have options as well.

• You can cut the branches off the tree and use them for mulch around perennials in your landscaping.

• The trunk can be used for firewood in an OUTDOOR fire pit, or chipped for mulch. The ashes from this fire can be spread over your garden. Wood ash is a source of potassium and other nutrients.

• The undecorated tree can be set up in the backyard and decorated with strings of popcorn or berries and suet to be used as a winter feeder for the birds. This is a great activity for families with children.

• If you are a landowner with a fishing pond, you can sink the undecorated tree as a breeding site for fish in your pond.

Give your old fresh-cut Christmas tree a new use – recycle it. Don’t put it in the landfill.