Glen Cove’s Chip-A-Tree Program Returns Jan. 10 to Recycle Holiday Tree

ission is once again inviting residents to give their Christmas trees a second life through the city’s annual Chip-A-Tree program, turning a post-holiday disposal chore into an environmentally friendly community effort. This year’s event will take place Jan. 10,, from 9 a.m. to noon in the Morgan Park parking lot.
Lora Cusumano, chair of the city’s Beautification Commission, said the program does much more than collect discarded evergreens. It keeps them out of the waste stream and turns them into a resource that benefits local parks and gardens throughout the year.
She emphasized the most important first step for residents who plan to participate. “We want the residents to bring their tree bare, with no ornaments and, or tinsel on it, and then they can drop it off earlier if they don’t want to bring it the day of the event, there’s going to be a designated drop-off spot in Morgan Park parking lot.
The program is rooted in sustainability and conservation. Cusumano noted, “It’s important for our community, It’s not going back into the landfill, with the garbage. We’re giving it back to our environment, and it’s getting used for our community, for our parks, and every place that we do plantings. It reduces the landfill waste, it’s giving back nutrients to the soil, and it’s helping to beautify our Glen Cove parks and gardens that we have, so it’s a sustainable tradition..”
Residents have embraced the program as a meaningful way to close out the holiday season. Among the participants last year was Katherine Obermeyer, a Glen Cove resident who brought her Christmas tree for recycling for the second consecutive year. “I love being able to recycle my tree,” Obermeyer previously told the Herald. “It’s wonderful knowing it’s being put to good use in our community.”

Cusumano added a practical reminder: removing decorations matters. “Some people are not that careful with taking off all the tinsel. People should make sure that it’s tinsel free, but every once in a while, you do see an ornament that somebody missed. It’s in the middle of the tree somewhere.
On the day of the event, the city’s teamwork is on full display. “What we end up doing is, the beautification volunteers are there, and we feed them through the chipper with Old Country Road Tree Service and their assistance, and then our DPW guys store them, and then they do use them throughout the year for our parks and for plantings in Glen Cove.”
Those woodchips go directly back into Glen Cove’s green spaces. “So it could be used for mulch like at Pascucci Field. It gets used throughout the city, and all the different parks, and all the different plantings.”
The environmental benefits are immediate and ongoing. “It’s really good for the soil, because it’s organic matter, and the chips actually keep the moisture in the ground for plants, and they also help to eliminate weeds from growing too.”
Cusumano said participation itself sends a message. “The Beautification commission are encouraging residents to participate in this, and that way to have a little less holiday waste, and it’s actually trees are getting used in both a responsible and a rewarding way for our community.”
City Councilman Michael Ktistakis called the effort both practical and uplifting. “The Chip a Tree event is a fun opportunity to encourage a community to recycle their holiday trees and turning them into mulch that can be used for gardening and most importantly enhance soil fertility. A win win for us all”