By Ben, EZ Haulaway · Published November 6, 2026 · Updated November 7, 2026

Christmas Tree Disposal in Denver: Every Option for 2026

Homeowner carries a Christmas tree outside

The easiest way to dispose of a real Christmas tree in Denver is to strip it bare and take it to a free Treecycle drop-off site in the weeks after Christmas, where it is ground into mulch. If you live in Denver proper, you can also set it out on your large item pickup day, though a tree collected that way is not turned into mulch. Flocked and artificial trees follow different rules, and if you want the tree gone with no hauling on your end, we can pick it up. Here is how each route works, what to do before you move the tree, and how to avoid a needle trail through your house.

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Clear the Clutter After the Holidays

When seasonal cleanup leaves other unwanted items behind, EZ Haulaway handles junk removal for homes and businesses across the Denver metro area.

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TL;DR

Denver’s Treecycle program accepts bare trees at weekday drop-off sites from the end of December through January. Check the city page for this season’s exact dates.
Denver residents can also leave a tree for large item pickup on their scheduled day, but those trees are not recycled into mulch.
Strip all lights, tinsel, ornaments, stands and bags first. Flocked trees, wreaths and garlands generally cannot go into the mulch stream.
Never burn an evergreen in a fireplace or wood stove, and take the tree out as soon as it starts drying.
If you would rather not load a car, we haul away trees, artificial trees and whatever else is piling up, with an instant quote from a photo.

Your options at a glance
Denver Treecycle: the free drop-off route
Large item pickup: the curbside route
Other Colorado cities run their own programs
How to prepare the tree
Flocked, artificial and oversized trees
Fire safety: take it out before it dries
Reusing the tree at home
Why not the trash
Leaf collection in Denver, since you are asking
When a haul-away makes sense
Get the tree and the clutter gone in one visit
FAQ
Sources

Your options at a glance

Most households in the Denver metro area choose from four routes. The right one depends on whether your tree is real, how it is decorated, and how much effort you want to spend.

Option	Best for	What to know
Treecycle drop-off	Real, undecorated trees	Free, weekday hours, tree becomes mulch
Large item pickup (Denver)	Residents who want curbside	Scheduled day, tree is not mulched
Reuse at home	Yards with room	Wildlife cover, mulch, compost
Haul-away by us	Any tree, plus other junk	Quote from a photo, loading and cleanup included

Denver Treecycle: the free drop-off route

The City and County of Denver runs Treecycle every winter. In the 2025-2026 season, the Treecycle page listed three weekday drop-off sites: Cherry Creek Transfer Station, Havana Nursery and the Central Platte Campus. They were open from December 29 through January 30, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with closures on New Year’s Day and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. A limited set of extra sites opened on one Saturday in early January, including Sloan’s Lake Park, Fred Thomas Park, Evie Dennis School Campus and John F. Kennedy High School.

Denver Treecycle dates, hours and drop-off sites

The pattern is steady from year to year: a window that opens right after Christmas and closes at the end of January. The exact dates and Saturday sites change, so check the city page before you load the car.

Tips for a smooth drop-off

Go on a weekday morning if you can. The Saturday sites are limited and tend to draw a crowd.
Bring a tarp or an old sheet for the trunk or truck bed. Needles get everywhere.
Tie the tree before you lift it. A tree wrapped tightly is easier to carry through the house and fits better in a vehicle.
Confirm the closures around January 1 and the January holiday that falls on a Monday.

What happens to the tree

Denver grinds the trees into mulch and makes it available to residents in spring. The city has held an annual free mulch and compost giveaway where people dig their own, and local coverage of the 2026 event said the mulch came from trees collected through Treecycle. Bring a shovel and something to haul it in.

Resident shovels recycled tree mulch into wheelbarrow

Large item pickup: the curbside route

If you are a Denver resident with city trash service, the city says it will collect a tree on your large item pickup day if you do not want to recycle it. The trade-off is that trees collected this way are not turned into mulch.

Two practical points. First, holidays move collections: Denver’s schedule page lists Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as days when Solid Waste operations are closed and collections slide a day. Second, large item pickup runs on your assigned schedule, so a tree set out early will sit in front of your house for a while. Put it out close to your day, not weeks ahead.

If you live outside the city limits, in Parker, Lone Tree, Centennial, Highlands Ranch, Aurora or Lakewood, your hauler or municipality sets the rules. Many curbside programs collect trees for only a few weeks after Christmas. After that window, a tree can be treated as bulky waste with an extra fee, according to Earth911’s treecycling guide. Call your hauler or check your city website before you set the tree out.

Other Colorado cities run their own programs

The Front Range does not share one program. Longmont, for example, has offered satellite drop-offs at neighborhood parks such as Roosevelt Park, Garden Acres Park, Kanemoto Park and Centennial Park in the days between Christmas and early January. It requires residents to remove all decorations and light strands. Most of its trees are ground into mulch for residents, and a small number go into lakes in city parks and nature areas as fish habitat.

The lesson: search your own city’s name plus “tree recycling” in early December, and read the current dates before you plan your weekend.

How to prepare the tree

A tree is only recyclable if it is just a tree. The Morton Arboretum puts it plainly: only the tree can be recycled, so remove every decoration, and take off any plastic tree bag outside, not in the living room.

Before you move it, run through this list:

Lights and ornaments. Check the inside branches near the trunk, where strands tend to hide.
Tinsel and garland. Tinsel does not belong in mulch. Michigan’s environmental agency notes that most community programs take trees only, not wreaths or garlands, because of the metal or plastic backing.
Stand and nails. Oregon Metro asks that anything that is not part of the original tree comes off, including wire, nails and stands.
Tree bag. If you used one under the stand, lift the tree out in the bag and remove the bag outdoors. The National Christmas Tree Association suggests setting up the tree over a bag so the cleanup is easier.
Paint, glitter and flocking. Penn State Extension advises removing paint and glitter and notes that artificial snow can make a tree harder to recycle.

Flocked, artificial and oversized trees

Flocked trees. The Morton Arboretum says flocked trees cannot be recycled and belong in regular trash. Some programs differ, so if your tree is flocked, read the rules of the specific program first.

Artificial trees. These are not mulch. Zero Waste Sonoma recommends reusing or donating a tree that still works, and otherwise putting it in the garbage. It also says pre-lit strings should go through e-waste programs. A broken pre-lit tree is a bulky, awkward item that fills a trunk quickly, and it is a natural fit for a haul-away.

Oversized trees. A 9-foot tree from a big living room or a tree from a church or office is hard to move without help. Cut it in half only if the program accepts cut trees, since some set length limits. Check before you saw.

Fire safety: take it out before it dries

A dry tree is a fire hazard, so do not let it linger. The Morton Arboretum recommends disposing of a tree as soon as it shows signs of drying out. It also warns never to burn an evergreen in a fireplace or wood stove, because it can cause creosote buildup that could lead to a chimney fire. Penn State Extension notes that if you want to use the wood as firewood, it is best burned outdoors because of its resin content.

Keep the tree away from heaters and vents, and move it out of the house, not just to the garage, if it is shedding heavily.

Reusing the tree at home

If you have a yard, you have more options than a drop-off. According to Penn State Extension, a real tree can shelter songbirds over winter, insulate perennial beds, become mulch or compost, or serve as habitat in a fishpond. The Texas A&M Forest Service says chipped trees make mulch that insulates plants against cold and helps prevent soil erosion and compaction.

In a Colorado winter, the simplest version is a brush pile in a back corner of the yard. Check your HOA rules before you leave a dried tree in view, and keep it away from the house and fences. If you don’t have the space, the drop-off route gets you to the same end.

Why not the trash

A tree in the landfill is a wasted resource. The Michigan agency explains that evergreens sent to landfills decompose without oxygen and produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Euronews, citing the Nature Conservancy, reports that around 10 million live trees end up in landfills each year. Recycled trees, by contrast, come back as mulch or habitat.

Leaf collection in Denver, since you are asking

If your yard is full of leaves as well, the city runs a separate program. LeafDrop offers drop-off sites in the fall, with weekday hours early October through late November and a few Saturday dates in November. Leaves must be in paper bags. Plastic bags are not accepted. Residents can download a coupon for a free five-pack of paper leaf bags at participating Ace Hardware stores. Customers with a compost cart can put leaves in the green cart without bagging.

The season is short and ends before Treecycle begins, so check the city page for the current dates. If you have more yard debris than a drop-off can handle, we also take yard and landscaping debris.

When a haul-away makes sense

Drop-off is free but it costs you a morning. A haul-away makes sense when:

You have more than a tree to move: boxes, broken decorations, an old artificial tree, furniture you swapped out for the holidays.
The tree is oversized, or you can’t lift it into a vehicle.
You missed the Treecycle window and your curbside program has ended.
You are clearing a property, whether a house or estate or a rental unit between tenants.

Our pricing is by trailer load or by specific item, so you pay for the space your items take up. Our published pricing starts at $120 for a minimum or small load and $120 for a 1/8 trailer, and labor, loading, haul-away and cleanup are included. A tree with a few other items fits comfortably into the smaller loads, and a photo gets you an exact quote. We also publish per-item prices for things like a couch at $150 for a 2–3 seat couch, $250 for a sleeper, and $350 for a large sectional or a mattress at $150, which are often on the same pile after the holidays.

What we think about tree season

Every January we hear the same story: the tree is on the porch, the drop-off window is closing, and the car is too small. We built EZ Haulaway around removing that friction. We are a family-owned crew in Parker, not a call center, so the person you text is the person who shows up.

Our advice is simple. If you can get a bare tree to a Treecycle site, do it, because the mulch goes back to the community. If you can’t, or if the tree is one of several things you want gone, send us a photo. Quotes are transparent, cleanup is included, and we treat your property with care. We also donate and recycle what we can, which fits the spirit of the season.

The best tree disposal plan is the one that actually happens before the needles are all over the floor.

Ben

Get the tree and the clutter gone in one visit

If you would rather skip the drive, we will load the tree and haul it away, along with anything else you are ready to part with. Send a photo and get your price through our instant online quote, or see our Denver junk removal page for the areas we cover.

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We serve homeowners, property managers and businesses across the Denver metro area. If your holiday cleanup includes an old fridge in the garage, we handle appliance removal too, and offices wrapping up year-end can see our commercial junk removal service.

For more on keeping hauled items out of the landfill, read our guide to eco-friendly junk removal in Denver.

FAQ

When should I take down and dispose of my Christmas tree?

Take it down when the needles start dropping heavily or the branches feel brittle, since a drying tree is a fire hazard. Then plan around the program window: Denver’s Treecycle has run from right after Christmas to the end of January. Many curbside programs run only a few weeks, so don’t wait until February.

Can I put my Christmas tree in my regular trash?

In Denver, the city says it will collect a tree on your large item pickup day, but it will not be turned into mulch. Other cities and haulers have their own rules and fees, so check with yours. Flocked trees are generally treated as regular trash.

Can I recycle a tree with lights or tinsel on it?

No. Programs ask for a bare tree because lights, wire, tinsel and stands can damage shredding equipment or contaminate the mulch. Remove everything, including any plastic bag, before you drop it off.

What do I do with an artificial Christmas tree?

Artificial trees are not recyclable as mulch. If it still works, donate or reuse it. If it is broken or the lights have died, it is bulky household junk. We can haul it away, and you can send a photo for a quote.

Is there a free way to get rid of a Christmas tree in Denver?

Yes. Treecycle drop-off sites are free for residents during the season. Check the city page for this year’s dates, locations and hours before you go.