So we had been wondering: What happens to all the Christmas trees Concord residents throw out by the curb? We know the city comes along and collects them, but where do they go from there? Well, we got to the bottom of it last week, when we snuck over the border (shhh!) to The Dirt Doctors in Pembroke.
The Dirt Doctors sell all kinds of landscaping supplies – pavers, stone, mulch, loam – and they take in all kinds of stuff, too.
“We’ll take pretty much anything, as long as it’s clean,” said manager Brian Boudreau. What he means is, they’ll accept any yard waste – leaves, tree clippings, branches, Christmas trees – for free (although there is a charge for stump disposal).
The Dirt Doctors take stuff from individuals as well as municipalities, and this is where the Concord Christmas tree tie-in comes in. It turns out, the city of Concord’s trash service, Casella, sends the trees to the Dirt Doctors, who then grind the trees up – twice – and turn them into colored mulch.
During a visit last week, there was a pile of about 80 trees waiting to be pulverized and repurposed. Boudreau said Concord usually sends about 300 trees a year, which produces “not much” mulch. That “not much” is a relative term – 300 Christmas trees will produce roughly 50 yards of mulch. That’s probably more than your entire backyard could hold, but in that business, 50 yards is nothing.
“I have nurseries come in and take 100 yards a whack,” Boudreau said.
The process is pretty cool to watch: Once the trees are passed through the chipper, a loader picks up a big pile of the coarse chips and drops them into a grinder that makes a finer pile of chips. Then, that pile gets scooped up and brought over to another big machine, known as the Mor Bark. The Mor Bark machine refines the chips and adds dye – the Dirt Doctors use safe, oxidized dye, Boudreau said. From there, the finished mulch shoots up a conveyor belt and becomes a massive pile, waiting to go to somebody’s yard or property.
And again, all of this work is performed at no charge to anyone. “It’s more of a service to the community,” Boudreau said.
So just think of this whole process as a circle of life. You buy your Christmas tree, set it up, decorate it and enjoy it for a few weeks. Once Christmas is over, you throw it out to the curb. The next thing you know, you could be seeing the remains of your tree gracing the properties of Comcast, Alton Woods, Granite Bank, New Hampshire Distributors, Holiday Inn, Dollar Tree – all businesses that order mulch from the Dirt Doctors – or your own front yard. It’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
And in case you like pictures to tell a story, we’ll walk you through the process in photo form, too.
