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Making Mulch Ado About Christmas Trees in Long Beach
By Staff Writer
Published on Mon, Dec 1, 2025
A necessary spruce-up, Long Beach is once again offering residents the opportunity to take part in a “tree-mendous” post-holiday cleanup.
From Dec. 26, 2025 through Jan. 9, 2026, real trees can be dropped off at 13 convenient Holiday Treecycling locations. The service is a free, easy — even, one might say, chipper — annual sendoff hosted by the Energy and Environmental Services Department.
Each year, the program spruces up the community by removing 155 tons or about 10,000 trees. The collected trees are given a second life as landscaping mulch, keeping the season’s dried-out pines out of alleys, gutters and landfills while also reducing fire hazards.
Holiday trees are too large to be placed in organics carts, and it is illegal to dump them in alleys or the public right-of-way, making the treecycling sites the best route for disposal.
Drop-off sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends at the following locations:
- Bixby Park, 1st Street at Cherry Avenue
- Cesar E. Chavez Park, Golden Shore Street at 4th Street
- El Dorado Park, 2760 N. Studebaker Rd. (South parking lot behind Administration Building)
- Houghton Park, Myrtle Avenue at Harding Street
- Hudson Park, Hill Street at Webster Avenue
- Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau, 2929 E. Willow St.
- Orizaba Park, Orizaba Avenue at 14th Street
- Scherer Park, 49th Street at Del Amo Boulevard
- Stearns Park, 23rd Street at Roycroft Avenue
- Veterans Park, 28th Street at Pine Avenue
- Wardlow Park, Monlaco Road at Rutgers Avenue
- Whaley Park North, Chatwin Avenue at Atherton Street
- Will Rogers Mini Park, East Paoli Way at 3rd Street
Before dropping off trees, residents should remove all decorations and stands. Flocked trees are fine. Trees taller than 12 feet should be cut in half. No artificial trees will be accepted.
For residents who can’t transport their trees, a one-time curbside collection will take place on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. Trees should be placed at the curb by 7 a.m. that morning for pickup.
For more information, visit longbeach.gov/lbrecycles.
