The holiday season brings joy and festivity, but what comes down must go out, and Douglas County offers an earth-friendly solution for disposing of your Christmas tree. Instead of relegating your tree to the trash, the county urges residents to recycle their piney companions at several designated locations until January 31st, 2026, where they will be turned into mulch, a commodity as useful as it is eco-conscious.
Ready your trees for a second life at any of the county-operated sites—Bayou Gulch, Challenger Regional Park, Fairgrounds Regional Park, and Highland Heritage Regional Park, which generously offer free mulch in return. You can find the full list of locations and more recycling information by visiting the Douglas County webpage. And while you're at it, don't forget — ornaments, lights, tinsel, and all miscellaneous adornments should be stripped from the trees before drop-off, to ensure a smooth transformation from festive fixture to garden garnish. This process makes sure that mulching machines don’t choke on something less biodegradable than a tree.
If your tree has been sprayed with artificial snow, alas, it's a no-go for mulching, and you'll have to find another means of disposal. Contact Douglas County Parks and Trails at 720-733-6990 if you've got questions or need additional details on what constitutes an acceptable tree for recycling—and remember, the trees are only as useful as they are free of foreign materials. Mulch will be available while supplies last, therefore, the early bird gets the eco-worm, or in this case, the ground cover.
Christmas tree recycling is more than just an end-of-the-year chore, it’s a small but mighty act in the great scheme of reclamation and renewal that benefits our shared spaces and private gardens alike. Find additional municipal tree recycling locations in Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, and Parker by digging a little deeper into the aforementioned Douglas County page, the information is there, ripe for the picking like low-hanging evergreen boughs once adorned with the sparkle of holiday spirit, now destined to nourish the soil they once sprouted from.
