We recycle Christmas trees and holiday lights!
For this year’s dates for collection, check the calendar. Cans to collect lights will be available in the Village Hall lobby, and undecorated and unbagged trees can be dropped off at the Aqua Center starting the day after Christmas.
Trees that are picked up with your regular garbage go directly into a landfill and create methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas. By dropping off your Christmas tree at the Aqua Center parking lot, trees will be chipped to be reused in landscapes or added to yard waste compost, which is a wonderful additive for soil when finished processing. A truckload of mulch or compost can be delivered to residents’ homes (for a small fee) when landscaping season resumes or residents can pick up the mulch for free!
Holiday lights cannot go into your regular curbside recycling and must be sent to an electronics recycling company. The Village has partnered with Gaby Iron and Metal, a local metal recycling company, to make Christmas light recycling available to residents at no charge.
Lights can be dropped off in marked bins in the Village Hall lobby. The Park Forest Aqua Center parking lot is a drop-off site for used Christmas Trees. Residents are asked to remove any tree decorations before drop-off.
Help Park Forest continue to be a leader in sustainability by dropping off your tree and unusable lights!