Benicia’s Boy Scouts will be on hand to recycle your used Christmas trees for the first two weekends after Christmas. (Courtesy photo)

By Gretchen Burgess
Special to the Herald

Some of us enjoy the look, feel, and scent of a real Christmas Tree. It’s a great family adventure, picking out the perfect tree, getting it home, and decorating it. After Christmas is over, you might not want an adventure as the tree moves on to be returned to nature.
The Boy Scouts of America have you covered on the two weekends following Christmas. All you need to do is remove your decorations, including tinsel and icicles, place your tree on the curb before 8:30 a.m. and it will be joyfully whisked away on the day you requested. Even if your preferred tree is flocked.
Now is the time to reserve your favored date for pick up. Informational coupons can be found in your water bill, the winter Benicia Activity Guide and at many of the places in Benicia that you buy your Christmas supplies and trees. Then all you need to do is send your filled out coupon in, along with your $10 donation made out to: BSA Christmas Tree Recycling, to Christmas Tree Recycling, PO Box 485, Benicia CA 94510. Put a stamp on the envelope and leave it for those magical people who visit our homes six out of the seven days of the week.
Though your local Boy Scouts enjoy giving the best concierge service that they can. They are not allowed to come into your home and help you moved your tree from its place of honor out to the curbside area where it needs to be for pick-up. Please do remember that trees must be outside before 8:30am on their pick-up date. If you wish to ensure that your donation doesn’t go astray, our Scouts are happy to come to your door to receive your check, if you haven’t had the time to get it in the mail or don’t wish to leave it in an envelope attached to your tree.
If you’ve run out of stamps and still would like to reserve your pick-up date. You can always give a call to the Christmas Tree Recycling Hot Line at 707-551-4520 or visit their web site at BeniciaScouts.org. From there on the web site’s home page, just click the Christmas Tree Recycling icon in the upper right hand corner of the site and fill in your pick-up information.
If you wish the adventure to continue just a little longer, you can make a day of it and load the tree up for one more ride with the family to either the Benicia Community Park, 540 Rose Drive (behind Matthew Turner Elementary School) or the First Baptist Church, 1055 Southampton Road. There you can make your donation directly to a Scout, who will cheerfully help you remove your tree from your vehicle and take it away to where it will be chipped to continue it’s work as mulch at one of Benicia’s many city parks. You just don’t get much Greener than that. Scouts will be working those sites 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Dec. 30 and 31 and Jan. 1, 6 and 7.
For over 20 years the funds raised from this annual program have funded children in scouting between the ages of 5 to 21 years of age. Because this program is entirely volunteer run, every penny goes to bring programs and education to the kids. If you wish to give more than $10 towards having your tree recycled, know that your money is divided between all the units participating in the work from Cub Scouts to Venture Crews in our town.
Rain or shine these hardworking Scouts will get the job done. To keep them and their equally hard working parents fueled and warm they are supported by local businesses such as Ace Hardware, Kinders, Pacifica Pizza, Pizza Pirate, Round Table Pizza, Safeway and coffee by The Rellik Tavern. Please help us in supporting these businesses who give back so much to our community.

Gretchen Burgess is a committee member for Pack 108 and Troop 007.

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