Volunteers needed for Christmas Tree-cycling Day

by Linda Day, Office of Sustainability

As part of a system-wide commitment to sustainability announced in 2002 by President Evan Dobelle, UH Manoa and Kapi‘olani CC will assist the State Department of Health and the City and County of Honolulu in collecting thousands of Christmas trees for recycling on Sat., Jan. 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Volunteers are needed on "Christmas Tree-cycling Day" to receive trees at the drop-off site located at the Manoa Richardson Law School parking lot (makai side of Dole Street, across from Bachman Hall). Volunteers will work in two shifts: from 9 a.m. to noon (arrive at 8:30 a.m.) and from noon to 3 p.m. Volunteers are asked to wear a hat, sunscreen, gardening gloves if possible and covered shoes. To sign up, contact the UH Office of Sustainability by phone, (808) 956-9346 or e-mail.

At Manoa, the trees will be fed into a chipper to convert them into much-needed mulch for campus plants. Mulch is valuable because it conserves water, adds nutrients to the soil and reduces landscaping maintenance.

Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will staff the drop-off site at Kapi‘olani CC’s Parking Lot D (corner of 18th and Kilauea Avenues) and help staff the drop-off site at Manoa.

The Christmas Tree-cycling project has taken place on O‘ahu for the past 13 years and has collected approximately 30,000 trees per year. In previous years, the Manoa campus has collected approximately 1,600 trees per year with the support of its Buildings and Grounds Management staff. This year, in addition to the State Department of Health and the City and County of Honolulu, project sponsors include the Hawaiian Electric Company and the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation/Matson Navigation Company.

For a complete list of drop-off sites around Oahu, go to the News for Staff page and read "Recycle your Christmas tree."