PSA: Noe Valley Tree Collection Schedule 2010

If you bought a live Christmas Tree or Hanukkah Bush for the holidays, don't just toss it on a random corner when no one's looking (we've already seen a few sad castoffs this season). Do the right thing and recycle it. Sunset Scavenger will haul it away for free starting next week.

Via the Sunset Scavenger RecologySF.com newsletter:

Christmas tree collection will take place January 3-8 and January 10-15. Please place clean, unflocked trees next to your carts when you take them to the curb for your regularly scheduled pickup. Be sure to remove all tinsel, decorations, plastic bags, stands, and lights. If your tree is over 6 feet, please cut it in half.

If you're wondering what happens to your tree once Sunset Scavenger picks it up: it's fed to a wood chipper. The wood chips are then trucked to Tracy, burned to power turbines and create electricity – and then sold back to PG&E to power that iPad you got as a gift this year. In 2009 San Francisco recycled nearly 500 tons (!) of holiday trees, enough to power 20,000 houses for a month.