The Mariposa County Department of Public Works is making it even easier for County residents to green up their holiday season by offering free disposal of Christmas trees at the landfill.

The public can bring their Christmas trees to the landfill between Dec. 26, and Jan. 31, 2010 for recycling. All decorations, including ornaments, tinsel and lights, as well as any nails used in tree stands, must be removed prior to disposal. Flocked trees will also be accepted. The trees will be chipped and mixed with other solid waste in the compost facility to enhance the composting process.

Non-working strings of lights are also being accepted at the recycling center at the landfill. Recycling lights for their metal content rather than throwing them in the trash not only reduces the amount of waste that is landfilled, but also helps prevent the wires from becoming tangled in the sorting equipment in the compost facility.

The Mariposa County landfill, compost facility and recycling center, located at 4639 Ben Hur Road in Mariposa, is open Thursday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, go to www.mariposa county. org/solid waste or call 966-5165.