THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, December 31, 1994            TAG: 9412310290
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   58 lines

TOWNS, COUNTIES RECYCLE CHRISTMAS TREES IF YOU CAN'T LET IT GO, STICK THE OLD TREE IN THE GROUND. IT'LL BE GREEN UNTIL SPRING.

Like the relatives you hosted for the holidays, that lovely indoor evergreen was a guest in your home, probably the most agreeable of them all.

Now Christmas is over, your tree is beginning to overstay its welcome and you're not sure what to do with it.

Pleasant memories remain, if theis tree was special to you - but as far as the people who handle refuse are concerned, it's ``yard waste.''

Like lawn clippings, lopped limbs and leaves, Christmas trees fall in a sweeping list of recyclable materials that aren't allowed in the regional landfill.

That means your tree is not garbage. Don't throw it out with the trash.

In most counties in the area, the best thing to do with your retired tree is strip off every vestige of decoration - including tinsel - and take the treem to the nearest recycling center. From there, like the unwanted weeds and burned-out stumps of summer, most trees will be collected and chipped into mulch.

Dead Dare trees once were used to bolster dunes on Hatteras Island, but federal officials stopped the practice because it threatened loggerhead turtles, county officials said. Elsewhere in the region, some trees are still used for fish spawning grounds and wildlife habitats.

If your tree is keeping its fresh green color and you're too attached to part with it right away, consider making it part of the landscape.

``If you stick them in the ground, with the cold temperatures, they'll usually last you through the wintertime,'' said Beth Hopkins of Central Garden Center & Nursery in Elizabeth City. ``They'll look like a tree that's been planted and grown there.''

But planting your tree outside will only delay the inevitable, Hopkins said. Warm weather will turn the tree brown in a hurry.

For those who accept that Christmas past is past, most localities are ready to handle discarded trees.

Folks in Dare, Pasquotank, Camden and Currituck counties can take their trees to nearby convenience and recycling centers, officials said. Residents of Perquimans, Chowan and Gates counties should do the same, said Anne Blindt, recycling coordinator for the Albemarle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority.

Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills are planning pickups abound mid-January. Kitty Hawk residents can take their trees to the Kill Devil Hills recycling center.

Elizabeth City residents can have their trees collected on their regular yard-waste pickup day. Edenton workers are plucking the trees from curbsides weekly, mostly on Wednesdays, through most of January.

Anyone with questions about disposing of trees should call their city or county offices. by CNB