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Grad class picks up trees this weekend

Crowe students will be picking up curbside christmas trees Saturday and Sunday in various neighbourhoods around Trail.

Giving your Christmas tree a second life is an eco-friendly way to support the 2016 grad class.

A couple dozen students from the J.L Crowe graduating class have volunteered to circle Trail neighbourhoods Saturday and Sunday to pick up Christmas trees left curbside and bring them to the city to recycle into mulch.

The Grade 12 class is paid $750 for the prickly work, but grad council president Michael Moon says the effort is more about community spirit than money.

“If anything this is more of a way to get involved with the community and help out in that sense,” Moon told the Trail Times. “It’s a way of giving back, and a good way for students to get volunteer hours needed to graduate.”

Moon is referring to Grad Transitions, which is a Crowe program that began in 2007 that requires each student to complete at least 30 hours of community service and work experience.

In fact, all B.C. secondary school students enrolled in Grade 12 must complete the course to graduate.

Before trees hit the curb or a drop off point, the class asks that all decorations, including tinsel and any plastic covers, be removed.

Students will pass through only once, so the city requests trees be placed in the usual refuse collection spot and not on private property.

The eight areas designated as drop off sites are: Waneta Village Park, the Glenmerry underpass, Highway Drive at the public works yard, Butler Park, the “Y” in Sunningdale, West Trail at the bocce pits, Miral Heights Park and Stoney Creek Road in Tadanac.

This is the first year public works will tackle the recycle job with the city chipper instead of diverting Christmas trees into the regional district’s mulcher at the McKelvey Creek Landfill.

It makes sense, says Public Works Manager Larry Abenante, because groups like Trail Community in Bloom are free to pick up all the mulch they need (at no cost) during planting season.

The trees will be stored on an isolated piece of land at the Trail Regional Airport until winter work abates and crews have time to fire up the chipper.

The work will be completed at the airport and mulch stored at that site.



Sheri Regnier

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