December 29th, 2025
Special to Ventura County Star
By David Goldstein
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Don’t meet your end in landfill debris. From curb tocart, or drop-off free, Your wood lives on sustainably. As mulch for soil and canopy, You close the loop responsibly.
Even though Christmas tree recycling is an annual ritual, differing rules, dates and deadlines in various parts of Ventura County can make collection and drop-off confusing. The advertisements, flyers and online outreach from each city are seen by residents of other areas, but each resident needs to know his own city’s rules.
Other than grinding your tree and using the mulch on site, the best “treecycling” method for the environment, requiring the least amount of truck idling time and transportation, is for you to cut your tree into 4-foot segments and fit the pieces into your regular curbside yard waste recycling cart. Remove decorations, stands and other items.
Fire-proofed trees should be placed in trash carts rather than yard waste or organics carts.
Similarly, trees flocked with fake snow cannot be recycled in some programs so should be cut and placed in garbage carts or handled through bulky item disposal programs in areas served by Athens and WM. However, flocked trees are acceptable for recycling with organics in Oxnard and in areas collected by Harrison Industries.
If you cannot cut your tree to fit into your cart, you can instead use free, whole tree pickup on the regular day of collection, in some locations and until specified dates:
• In areas collected by Harrison Industries, whole tree collection is free on the day of collection until Jan. 10 inside cities, and until Jan. 16 outside cities.
• In areas collected by WM, whole tree collection is free on the day of collection until Jan. 9.
• In all areas collected by Athens Services, the deadline for whole tree collection is Jan. 16.
• Port Hueneme offers whole tree collection Jan. 5-15, and Oxnard Jan. 5 to 23.
If you set out a tree after a deadline or request collection on a non-pickup day, you may be charged for special collection unless you make separate arrangements. In most areas, you can make these arrangements by calling your trash collector and requesting your annually allocated “free bulky item collection.”
If you live in a multi-family building without yard waste service, ask your apartment manager to contract separately with your hauler for special service.
For businesses, homes without curbside yard waste service and apartments with neither yard waste collection bins nor drop-off spots arranged by site owners, Christmas tree recycling drop-off sites are available during operating hours and will be free through Jan. 10 at the following locations:
• Agromin Organics, 6859 Arnold Road, near Oxnard, Monday-Friday 7 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.
• Ojai Valley Organics, at the end of Old Baldwin Road, Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• Peach Hill Soils’ retail site at Performance Nursery, at 6101 E. Los Angeles Ave., Somis, Monday-Friday 7 a.m. – 1 p.m., and Saturday 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.
• Peach Hill Soils compost site, 10765 W. Los Angeles Ave., near Moorpark, Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.
While supplies last, Agromin and Peach Hill offer a free bag of potting soil to residents dropping off trees at these locations. Ojai Valley Organics allows residents to fill their own bag with mulch or compost, or for those with an appropriate vehicle, offers to provide a free half-cubic-yard scoop of either mulch or compost.
Here are some other options:
• WM’s Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center, 2801 Madera Road, allows free tree drop-off, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 26 through Jan. 9.
• Moorpark provides free drop-off bins on Marquette Street and Park Crest Lane through Jan. 6.
• Oxnard residents may drop off trees free at the Del Norte Regional Recycling and Transfer Station, through Jan. 4, 2026, Monday – Saturday 5:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additional sites, open dawn to dusk, include College Park, ‘Ololkoy (Oxnard Beach Park), and the Dog Park at 463 H St.
In some areas, residents can also obtain free collection for extra trash set out after Christmas. For example, in most areas collected by Harrison Industries, for two weeks, residents are allowed to set out twice their regular amount of trash at no extra charge. Through Jan 10, place tied bags next to trash carts and collapsed cardboard next to recycling carts if it is too big to fit into the cart. In Harrison’s areas outside cities, up to two 50-gallon bags of extra trash are allowed for three weeks after Christmas.
For all areas served by Athens Services, residents are allowed to set out two, 50-gallon, tied bags next to their garbage at no extra charge through Jan. 15.
In areas collected by WM, such as Moorpark and Simi Valley, residents can set out up to three extra bags of trash next to their solid waste carts on their service day at no extra charge from Dec. 26 through Jan. 9.
David Goldstein, Environmental Resource Analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency, may be reached at 805-658-4312 or david.goldstein@venturacounty.gov
