Beaufort County residents are reminded to bring their old Christmas trees to any County Convenience Center during normal Center hours. Trees should be placed in the yard waste bins. County yard waste is converted to boiler fuel for energy generation, so ornaments, lights, and other decorations should be removed from the trees prior to recycling them. Residents should not take trees to the old locations in Lady’s Island or Bluffton, as doing so will be considered illegal dumping.

In reviewing the Grinding of the Greens program, the County discovered very little of the fresh mulch was picked up by residents and the bulk had to be removed by Public Works crews after events. According to Jim Minor, Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling Director, using these trees for energy generation is a much greener approach and will dramatically reduce not only the overall carbon footprint of this event, but also program costs.

The following local municipality will continue to provide Grinding of the Greens locations and make mulch available to the public:

Town of Port Royal at the Naval Heritage Park on Ribaut Road (with grinding by Southern Tree Service).

Residents should contact their municipalities for dates of operation. The City of Beaufort and Sea Pines Plantation in Hilton Head Island will offer curbside collection of trees. For more information on locations and hours of Convenience Centers, please visit www.bcgov.net/recycle or call 843-255-2736.