BREWER – When it’s time to take down the decorations and throw out the Christmas tree, the sidewalk is not the place to discard it, Brewer Public Works Director David Cote said.

“The curbside [trash] pickup will not, I repeat will not pick up Christmas trees,” he said. “We do have a drop site at the Brewer Auditorium, by the lower gate off Wilson Street. They can drop them off there anytime until January 23. Brewer’s Web site, www.brewerme.org, has that information and much more.”

Residents can also take the trees to the Brewer landfill at Elm Street, where they will be chipped and used as fuel.

Bangor residents have two choices – either take the tree to the public works building at 530 Maine Ave. 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday through Saturday or wait until the first Monday in January.

“If people bring them out to public works with no tinsel or ornaments we’ll chip them or they will be composted,” said Arthur Stockus, director of the Bangor Public Works Department.

He said this material could be used as fill for different projects for the city.

“We’d prefer to have them brought out,” Stockus said. “However, we have in the past picked up curbside.”

Weather permitting, the curbside pickup will be Jan. 5.

Anyone with questions on how to dispose of Christmas trees should call their local public works department or town hall.

Maine uses recycling more than any other form of waste disposal, according to Tom Miragliuolo of the Maine State Planning Office.

“More material is recycled than is ‘landfilled’ in the state and more material is recycled than is incinerated in the state,” he said. “People like to think more trash is ‘landfilled’ or burned and that’s just not the case. Recycling is the number one means for waste management.”

The state’s goal is to recycle 50 percent of all waste, said Miragliuolo.

“We were close to it with just over 42 percent in 1999,” he said. “But the percentage has dropped down to 37.3 percent in 2001. People are recycling just the same as before but the amount of trash is increasing.”

In 1999, the statewide recycling rate was 40.4 percent. Miragliuolo said the drop in this number is deceiving. He said recycling continues to rise in Maine.

“In 2001, although recycling efforts continued to increase, up slightly from 648,621 tons in 1999 to 687,815 tons in 2001, the impact of the growth in construction and demolition debris on the overall municipal solid waste tonnage generated resulted in a drop in the statewide recycling rate of 37.3 percent,” the State Planning Office Web site states. “Recycling of ‘traditional materials’ continued to advance but not at the same pace as the rise in municipal solid waste generated.”

The highest amount of trash is produced during the summer, when tourists visit the state and construction projects are under way. There is a surge at the end of the year.

“Household trash does go up slightly during the holidays,” said Miragliuolo. “The biggest thing is recycling the Christmas trees. Most towns are not burning them and we’re hoping most towns chip them and use them for biomass fuel.”

People throw away enough ribbon to wrap the Earth with a bow each holiday season, according to the SPO Web site.

“Every year, the holiday season, with all of its associated buying, wrapping, and celebrating, substantially increases the amount of waste that we generate as a state and as a country,” the SPO Web site states. “It is estimated that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day an extra million tons of waste are generated nationwide each week.”

To counteract this, Waste Management & Recycling Program at the SPO has developed a fact sheet, titled “Holiday Reduction & Recycling Tips,” in order to help Maine residents reduce the amount of trash that they create and throw away during the holiday season.

The fact sheet offers a wide range of practical waste reduction tips, from recycling Christmas trees to donating holiday greeting cards for reuse.

For more information on how to reduce holiday waste, contact the SPO at 287-8053 or 1-800-662-4545 for a copy of “Holiday Reduction & Recycling Tips” or visit the SPO’s home page at www.recyclemaine.com.