New Bedford, Fall River Announce Christmas Tree Disposal Plans

Time to clean up after the Christmas season, SouthCoast.

It’s always hard, the feeling of change after the holiday, but pop on an episode of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, and let’s get to it. For one week there will be a Christmas tree purge, and January 11 is the big show.

There are always songs and poems about setting up for Christmas, but never anything to get you out of the New Year's blues and push you to box everything up when you get off work. In my family, the person who sets it up is the one who takes it down. When the music hit me, so did the urge to join in on the holidays, and the decorations flew up. I blame the lack of after-Christmas tunes as the reason the decorations didn’t come down until Valentine’s Day. From that day forth I decided to stick with the classic Charlie Brown Christmas tree and nothing else.

New Bedford residents who take their sweet time as I do, have no fear. All you have to do is strip the tree of all decorations, and simply leave it on the curb starting January 11 at 7 a.m. and ABC Disposal will take care of the rest. The tree will be collected the weekday after your usual trash collection. For example, if your trash is collected on Mondays, your Christmas tree will be collected Tuesday, January 12, and so forth. It’s as easy as that, just drop your real tree on the curb and you’re good to go.

And if you live in Fall River, you can dispose of your Christmas tree this week or next week during regular trash pick-up. Residents may also dispose of trees at the DPW yard on Lewiston Street, free of charge, during normal hours of operation. For more information, call the Department of Community Maintenance at (508) 324-2568.

Now you won’t look too lazy when you have company over. The dishes and laundry are on you, though. Maybe ask Alexa to play a cleanup playlist.