The Georgia Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Mike Beatty called on Georgia families to make post-Christmas disposal plans for their Christmas trees by participating in the state’s 16th annual “Bring One For The Chipper” recycling program.

“Bring One For The Chipper” is Georgia's annual Christmas tree recycling program. Each year, Keep Georgia Beautiful works with private sponsors to organize a number of tree recycling events around the state.

“Georgia’s natural beauty is one of our state’s most valuable assets. Mary and I encourage Georgia families to help keep our landscape beautiful by recycling their Christmas trees after the holiday season ends,” said Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Each year, Christmas trees from the Governor’s Mansion are taken to The Home Depot’s Cumberland Parkway store in Atlanta for recycling.

Since its inception in 1991, Keep Georgia Beautiful’s “Bring One For The Chipper” program has collected nearly 4 million trees and provided over 1 million tree seedlings to program participants. More than 200,000 Christmas trees were recycled statewide in 2005.

“’Bring One For The Chipper’ has become a holiday tradition for many Georgia families. Recycling the Christmas tree provides a wonderful opportunity for families to discuss taking care of our environment and practice those principles by recycling their tree and planting a new seedling,” said DCA Commissioner Mike Beatty.

“This innovative program also provides local governments with an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to good environmental stewardship and utilize trees in a way that complies with state regulations for the disposal of yard trimmings,” added Beatty.

Georgia implemented a statewide yard trimming ban in 1996. Over the past nine years, many Georgia communities have developed ongoing programs to dispose of yard waste, including Christmas trees. The “Bring One For The Chipper” program provides an important complement to local efforts. Program organizers work with communities each year to ensure that program participation remains popular.

In preparation for the 2006 tree collection effort, Keep Georgia Beautiful purchased 40,000 dogwood tree seedlings for donation to participants. Seedlings were purchased from the Georgia Forestry Commission, which packaged and distributed the seedlings to forestry agents and collection sites statewide.

The Forestry Commission donated an additional 5,000 seedlings to bring the total to 45,000.

In 2005, more than 200 Christmas trees were collected and recycled into mulch for playgrounds, city and county landscaping projects and individual homes. More than 8,700 of the Christmas trees were sunk into lakes across the state to provide fish habitat.

“Georgia’s program continues to be so successful in due in large part to the dedication of our Keep Georgia Beautiful volunteers and affiliates in participating communities. We are especially proud of our affiliates and their successful efforts to engage more than 120 Georgia communities and 4,000 volunteers to staff 363 collection sites for this year’s effort, which we hope will be our best ever,” said Beatty.

Corporate sponsors The Home Depot, WXIA-TV/11 Alive (Atlanta’s NBC affiliate) and The Davey Tree Expert Company have joined forces to sponsor one of the state’s largest tree recycling drives included in the “Bring One for the Chipper” program.

Atlanta-area Home Depot stores will serve as community drop-off sites. The Davey Tree Expert Company will again donate use of their equipment to chip the trees collected at the store locations.

Local area residents are invited to bring their trees to the Home Depot drop-off centers on Saturday, Jan. 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Trees will be chipped into mulch or used as wildlife habitat. The mulch is used for public beautification projects and may be available free to citizens in many communities. Citizens are encouraged to contact the store directly to confirm participation.

While supplies last, each citizen that donates a tree for recycling on that day will receive a free dogwood seedling. Seedlings will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Funds from Keep Georgia Beautiful, Georgia Forestry Commission and the state’s Solid Waste Fund are used to purchase the seedlings.

For more information about the 2006 “Bring One For The Chipper” program, including local drop-off site locations, please call 1-800-CLEANUP or contact one of Georgia’s more than 70 Keep America Beautiful Affiliates. Information will be provided in English or Spanish. Additional program and collection site Information is also available at www.KeepGeorgiaBeautiful.org.

Created in 1978 by Gov. George Busbee, Keep Georgia Beautiful, became the first state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. Housed in the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, its unique structure as a public-private partnership allows KGB to benefit from the resources of citizens in government, corporations, and community organizations. These connections aid us in our mission to build and sustain community environmental activities and behaviors resulting in a more beautiful Georgia. KGB coordinates a number of important environmental efforts, including the Great American Cleanup activities in Georgia and the statewide Bring One for the Chipper Christmas tree recycling program.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs was created in 1977 to serve as an advocate for local governments. DCA operates a host of state and federal grant programs; serves as the state’s lead agency in housing finance and development; promulgates building codes to be adopted by local governments; provides comprehensive planning, technical and research assistance to local governments; and serves as the lead agency for the state’s solid waste reduction efforts. For additional information, visit www.dca.state.ga.us.

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