RESIDENTS URGED TO RECYCLE THOSE TREES, PLEASE TRASH COLLECTORS READY TO HAUL AWAY CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY'S LAST SYMBOL.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Presents opened, carols sung and feast devoured, now comes the post holiday cleanup, and Friday morning saw many a Christmas tree dumped on the curb awaiting disposal.

Trash collectors across Los Angeles were ready for the pickup just a few hours after the holiday, but sanitation officials are pleading with revelers to recycle those Christmas trees.

Most trash haulers offer some method to collect chopped Christmas trees - stripped of ornaments, decorations, bags, nails, buckets and stands - with regularly scheduled residential garbage pickup. The trees are usually shredded and used to cover trash at the landfill or mulched for ground cover. Flocked trees generally are not recycled.

Los Angeles and many suburban communities will open centers to drop off whole trees early next week.

State agriculture officials want people to recycle trees quickly and carefully to stop the spread of pitch canker, an incurable disease that has killed thousands of pines in coastal forests from San Luis Obispo to Mendocino counties. Infected Christmas trees have been found on lots in Los Angeles County.

``People can buy healthy-looking trees that are infected with pitch canker. If they are left for a long period in the back yard, insects could visit and spread the disease to landscape pines,'' said Tom Gordon, plant pathologist at the University of California at Davis.

Ventura County Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Alan Laird said the infection hasn't been found in the county and the agency is not asking for any special tree disposal. The Los Angeles County agriculture commissioner wasn't available Friday.

State officials said the fungus causes branches to wilt and die, and leaves trees vulnerable to insects. Officials are particularly concerned pitch canker will spread to the vast Sierra Nevada pine forests.

To help stem the spread of pitch canker and other tree diseases, officials urge people to properly dispose of Christmas trees, rather than leaving them around the back yard until March.

Los Angeles City trash haulers will only pick up trees chopped and stashed in green disposal containers on regular garbage collection days.

City residents can take unchopped trees - stripped of decorations - to one of 16 collection centers from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on January 3-4 and 10-11 and get a certificate good for a 20-pound bag of mulch. Valley drop-off locations include Branford Park in Arleta, Chatsworth Park South, Balboa Sports Center in Encino, Symlar Park and Sunland Park.

Burbank residents can leave full-size trees without decorations or stands on the curb or in their alley between January 5 and 16 for pickup. They can also chop it up and leave it in their green waste bin. Or residents can drop off their tree at Brace Canyon Park and Verdugo Park from now until January 16.

Likewise, Simi Valley residents can leave their full Christmas trees on the curb next to their green waste containers. The trees must be on the street by 6:30 a.m. on pickup day. Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center will take undecorated Christmas trees on Mondays through Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. through January 17.

In Glendale, city trash collectors will pick up trees with trash bins on their regular pickup days through Jan 16. The city will recycle flocked trees. Trees more than eight feet tall must be cut in half, and residents also have the option to cut up their trees and place them in the green waste container, if it fits and allows the lid to close.

Businesses and residents in apartments, condominiums or town houses should call Integrated Waste to find out the collection day for their area.

The city's successful Christmas Tree Recycling Program, which has been around for at least 15 years, is part of an effort to reduce the amount of trash dumped in the landfill. Glendale recycles between 12,000 and 15,000 Christmas trees each year.

``We just want people to know that the Christmas trees don't end up being burned or discarded,'' said Mario Nuez, assistant integrated waste administrator. ``We really use something out of it. It really is an environmental program.''

The Christmas trees are taken to the Scholl Canyon Landfill where they are ground up and turned into mulch. In turn, the mulch will be used to cover trash in the landfill - trash that is normally covered with green waste.

City officials urge residents - especially those who like to discard their trees in late January and even February - not to unnecessarily delay putting out their trees.

``We encourage the residents to get rid of the trees sooner than later, because they become a fire hazard,'' Nunez said.

Staff Writer Naush Boghossian contributed to this story.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Glendale city employees Orlando Garciga, left, and Rudy Garcia haul away unsold Christmas trees from a lot on Friday.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer