Greening Your Cochrane Christmas

For many of us, Christmas is a favorite time of year.  From community events to family celebrations, there’s much to enjoy.  This year, thanks to a number of convenient local options, you can easily do your part to enjoy a sustainable holiday season.

It’s a reality that the residential waste collected in Cochrane increases by an average of 20 per cent during the holiday season. And this is just the waste collected – it does not include the material brought to the Recycling Depot.

In fact, traffic at the Cochrane Recycling Depot increases significantly for the three weeks after Christmas. Traffic volumes are up three-fold during this period, and 40 metric tonnes of packaging materials (including cardboard/box board and wrapping paper) is collected.

Approximately 1,600 Christmas Trees were mulched through the Town of Cochrane recycling program last Christmas.  This resulted in 80 cubic yards of landscaping mulch that was used by a local landscaping company.

This year, the Christmas tree drop off program will be available from December 26 until the end of January.   Unlike previous years, there will not be an event around the mulching.  The Town is now using very large equipment to do the mulching, since there are so many trees, and it is too dangerous to have the public around when this work is being done.

You can learn more about recycling options on the Town of Cochrane website.