Here is where to dispose of your Christmas tree, lights and glass bottles in Pierce County
Just like that, the holiday season has come and gone, and it is time to take down all of holiday decorations.
Many of those decorations might end up being stored for the next holiday season, but if you have any old Christmas lights or natural Christmas trees that you need to dispose of, we’ve got a few recycling options for you.
And if you’ve accumulated a large amount of glass bottles over the holidays, we’ve got you covered with recycling options for those, too.
Below are some recycling options and locations for Christmas trees, Christmas string lights and glass bottles.
Tree disposal
Disposing of a tree, or “treecycling,” can be done in many ways.
Undecorated and unflocked Christmas trees can be disposed of into the yard-waste bin for collection as long as the lid closes completely. That might require you to cut your tree into sections.
Transfer stations in Pierce County
According to Pierce County website, unflocked Christmas trees can also be recycled at several transfer stations in Pierce County:
- Anderson Island, 9607 Steffensen Road
- Bonney Lake, 11710 Prairie Ridge Dr. E.
- Gig Harbor, 14515 54th Ave. NW
- Key Peninsula, 5900 Key Peninsula Highway
- Puyallup, 17925 Meridian E.
- Tacoma, 3510 S. Mullen St.
LeMay Pierce County Refuse
Le May Pierce County refuse customers can place their Christmas tree in their blue yard-waste cart. The tree must be free of tinsel, lights, decorations, tree stands and plastic, and needs to fit inside the closed cart. That could require customers to cut the tree into smaller pieces.
The cart must be at the curb by 6 a.m. on the scheduled collection day in order to be recycled.
Murrey’s Disposal
Murrey’s Disposal customers will be able to dispose of their tree in two ways.
The first option is for customers with yard-waste service to place their tree into their yard-waste bin, so it can be picked up free of charge. The tree must fit inside of the closed bin and cannot be flocked or decorated.
The second option is for Pierce County residents that do not have yard-waste services. The tree must be set out on your regularly scheduled garbage day for disposal and must be cut into 4-foot sections. Each section will be charged an extra unit fee.
Residents within the Puyallup, Orting and Milton city limits have an organized tree collections schedule and must set their trees out on the following days according to their location. Trees must be cut into 4-foot sections.
- Orting week of Jan. 15, 2024.
- Puyallup week of Jan. 8, 2024 and week of Jan. 15, 2024 depending on the yard waste schedule in your area. If you do not subscribe to yard waste, tree collection will be opposite of recycle week.
- Milton week of Jan. 8, 2024.
Christmas lights recycling locations
If you’d like to recycle Christmas light strings, here are six locations in Pierce County:
Calbag Metal, 1602 Marine View Dr.
McClendon Hardware, stores in Puyallup, Sumner and Tacoma.
Recycling Resources, 5317 131st St. Ct. E.
Uptekk, 101 Lund Road.
Tacoma Recovery & Transfer Center, 3510 S Mullen.
University Place Refuse & Recycling, 2815 Rochester St. W.
Glass recycling locations
Prepare glass for recycling by doing the following:
- collect only bottles and jars used for drinks or food
- rinse containers
- remove lids
- do NOT recycle wine glasses, vases, or other types of glass — those are considered garbage.
There are nine recycling centers and 19 glass drop-off locations in Pierce County. Below are a few locations:
- Tacoma Recovery & Transfer Center, 3510 S Mullen.
- Gig Harbor, Purdy Transfer Station, 14515 54th Ave. NW.
- Puyallup, Hidden Valley Transfer Station, 17925 Meridian Ave. E.
Bonney Lake, 11710 Prairie Ridge Dr. E.
Fife, Murrey’s Disposal, 70th Ave. E. & 48th St. E.
To see a full list of recycling centers and glass drop-off locations, visit the Pierce County website.
This story was originally published December 28, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
