The Examiner

Mahogany Builders green challenge to recycle Chicago Christmas trees

Each year Americans dispose of 30-35 million Christmas trees. Discarded trees end up in landfills and incinerators, which are one of the top generators of air pollution in the country. The city of Chicago has multiple locations to drop off Christmas trees from January 1 to January 17 and turn it in to mulch. Residents can also pick up free mulch at these locations from January 8 to January 17.

The problem is not enough people will make the effort to haul their tree to these drop off locations. It would be nice if the city would harvest these trees in a style similar to garbage pick up, but with budget cuts this program is not in effect this year nor is it likely to be instituted in the future.


Matt Lederer of Mahogany Builders is challenging the private sector to take the initiative and step in and make the city and the world a greener place. Matt Lederer and his team is creating an example by personally picking up discarded trees in the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighbourhoods tomorrow (January 8) at 1pm with his fleet of three trucks and taking them to the Peggy Notebaert Museum. There is a recycling center right in front of the museum.

There are many benefits to recycling trees and producing mulch beyond the benefits of not incinerating them and alleviation of space in landfills.

Benefits of recycling trees and producing mulch:
• WATER: Mulch provides a protective blanket and keeps plant roots hydrated by reducing the amount of moisture lost through the soil’s surface.
• WILDLIFE: Mulch is used in animal stalls to provide sand and erosion barriers on beaches; and provide shelter for fish, birds, and other animals.
• WEEDS: Mulch slows down the growth of weeds, and those that do manage to grow are more visible and easier to remove.
• PLANTS: Mulch helps plants survive the Chicago winters by protecting them from lethal freezes, and keeps the soil cool in the heat of summer.
• SOIL: When it decomposes, mulch produced from trees will provide vitamins and nutrients to the soil for several years

Will Matt and Mahogany Builders single handedly rid Chicago of discarded trees with a herculean effort tomorrow? Will they clear 1 million of the 35 million trees discarded in America? Of course not as tomorrow’s effort will be a virtual tree in the discarded Christmas tree forest.

However the point of the venture tomorrow is to set an example for businesses and people in the Chicago area and in other cities. Matt told me that in years past when discarding his own tree he would pick up other trees in his alleyway and would end up just on his block alone with a full load.

It is clear from a conversation from Matt that this is not  a media stunt as he feels passionately about making a difference and setting an example for not only his two sons, but other people and businesses as well. According to Matt, “One business can’t fix everything, but cumulatively, we can really make a difference.”

If you live in the Lincoln Park or Lakeview neighborhoods make sure you take the tree down tonight and get it into the alleyway.  If the program is a success it maybe repeated next week as well.  If not in these two neighborhoods make an effort to drop off the tree at one of the Chicago locations by January 17.  Let us hope that tomorrow when a discarded Christmas tree falls into a Peggy Nortebaert incinerator that everyone will hear and that sound will cause them to act.