MACON, Ga. — Asha Ellen is the Executive Director of Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful. She said after 30 years, she considers 'Bring One for the Chipper' a tradition.
"Now it's generational that people look forward to the opportunity to be able to come and recycle their trees," Ellen said.
When you give back to the community by recycling your tree, you get something in return too.
"With that also you know free mulch which there's a lot we could do as a city and even as far as residents with that mulch," Ellen said.
Keep Georgia Beautiful reported last year that 47,883 trees across the state "...were recycled into mulch for playgrounds, city and county landscaping projects, and individual homes."
Before you drop your tree off, you need to make sure it's prepped the right way.
"It needs to be an undecorated tree so that's the main thing as far as to stress. We've had in the past sometimes a few trees to come with some lights and ornaments but we can't mulch those," Ellen said.
Now if you can't make it to the annual chipper event on Jan. 6, you can bring your live tree to one of Macon's three convenience centers.
Nicholas Lanford said his family has been bringing their trees to the convenience center since he was little.
"Pretty little when we first dumped stuff off here. We just been doing it ever since. It's a great place. The people are really friendly," Lanford.
Ellen wanted to have the event be at Carolyn Crayton Park since she was the founding Executive Director of Keep Macon-Bibb beautiful.
"Let's continue to make Macon-Bibb beautiful," Ellen said.