It’s hard to believe it’s already January 13th! We have a snowy day in the High Country today and all of the festive, twinkling, lights still make a person feel like the holidays are alive and well.

Do you have all of your Christmas decorations down yet? Ours are mostly put away, and the tree has been taken to the Frisco Marina in anticipation of the annual Spontaneous Combustion Bonfire on February 8th at 6:00pm.

If you haven’t been, it’s a community event that entails hanging out around a bonfire. There are  fireworks and of course food and drink sales. Refreshment sales benefit the Summit Nordic Ski Club. Generally it’s super cold for this event, so bundle up, leave your pup at home – they hate the fireworks – and come out for some frigid fun.

What to do with the tree?

If you have taken down all of your decorations, what did you do with your tree?

Real or artificial, please don’t throw it in the landfill! Did you know that it takes 57 – 124 years for a pine tree to decompose naturally on the forest floor? Can you imagine how much longer that would be in a landfill?

Summit County offers a variety of places that your tree can be dropped off for free, in order to be used for compost or burned. Here is a list of sites from the High Country Conservation Center:

1. The Town of Breckenridge: Stilson Lot (off of Stables Rd near Wellington). Trees are accepted through January 31st, and will used for composting and burning.
2. The Town of Frisco: Frisco Bay Marina dirt lot (corner of Summit Blvd and Highway 9). This drop-off site is available 24/7 from December 26th through February 8th. The trees are used to fuel the Spontaneous Combustion bonfire, happening on February 8th at 6 pm.
3. The Town of Dillon: Recycling Center (across from Town Hall). The town will take them to the Summit County Resource Allocation Park to be turned into compost.
4. Town of Silverthorne: Collection site in Willowbrook across from Trent Park. Trees are accepted after Christmas through January 31st.
5. The Summit County Resource Allocation Park (SCRAP): (Landfill Rd in Keystone). Trees are accepted after Christmas through January 31st, free of charge during normal business hours, Monday through Saturday, 7 am to 4 pm. Trees are used in their composting program.

Please make sure to remove all ornaments, ribbons, lighting, and bases before you drop your tree off. Wreaths are not accepted at any of these locations.

Artificial trees are estimated to take up to 500 years to degrade in a landfill! YIKES. If you’ve recently replaced yours, but it is still usable, please consider taking it to one of our many thrift stores in the county or advertising it on Facebook Marketplace or community sale pages. We’re sure that someone can use it even if you can’t.

Thank you for making sustainable choices in 2020 and keeping your holiday tree out of the landfill. We’re off to enjoy the snow. At least it still looks a lot like Christmas in the High Country!