Kootenai trashes free tree pickup

Kootenai County residents wanting to gift their Christmas trees to the dump this year might have some troubles.

Citizens are being asked not to mix discarded trees with their trash because it is too much of a hassle to separate the two, said Roger Saterfiel, Kootenai County solid waste director. “This is actually the first year we’re telling people we’re not allowing (Christmas trees) to co-mingle with the garbage,” he said.

Christmas trees have been a problem and the new policy was made official about a month ago, Saterfiel said.

While trees are generally not allowed in the landfill – they’re usually put into a chipper for compost or fuel – some get through if they’re mixed with trash and that can mean landfill fires.

When trash goes into a landfill, it is compacted so hard that no air is left. But a Christmas tree cannot be squished the same way because it leaves pockets of air. Combined with intense heat as trash breaks down beneath the earth, the material can become combustible.

Another reason, Saterfiel said, is that trees simply take up too much space.

“I assure you,” he said, “it’s getting to be pretty expensive real estate. People of our county have got to start recognizing that we’re no longer small-time, because of our growth. We need to start exploring programs to help recycle more and look at separation programs more often.”

If there was no landfill in the area and the county had to ship all waste somewhere else, Saterfiel said, all trash would have to be separated first, budget expenditures would increase by approximately $6 million and “some places won’t even take some things that are separated out anyway.”

There are some remedies to the problem via volunteers from Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls high schools, who will pick up trees for $5 each. Trees can also be dropped off at the schools for $2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 7. Proceeds benefit the schools.

Another option is to take trees to the Ramsey Road Transfer Station in Coeur d’Alene, where there’s no charge.

Outside Kootenai County, other Idaho cities will be picking up trees.

In Sandpoint, the city will have a residential pickup Jan. 9. City residents should leave trees on the curb that day for the free service.