Evergreens may be recycled

PLUMSTED – For the fourth consecutive year, the Plumsted Youth for Nature and the Environment (PYNE) will collect discarded pine trees and fir trees and bring them to Bradley Beach, Monmouth County, to support dune restoration efforts.

For many towns along the shore, sand dunes help to stave off beach erosion and prevent flooding.

According to PYNE, the discarded trees help to rebuild dunes because the branches bind the sand together. The trees also feed dune grasses as they decompose. However, because the trees decompose, they must be replaced every year.

PYNE Vice President Dominic Esposito said members of the group became interested in dune restoration and the recycling of Christmas trees after superstorm Sandy battered the state’s coastal areas in 2012.

Since Sandy made landfall and caused more than $71 billion in damage across 24 states, communities like Bradley Beach have been successful in using evergreen trees to help build up depleted dunes.

Undecorated pine trees and fir trees will be collected at the Plumsted maintenance building parking lot at the end of Pine Street on the following dates: Jan. 2 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Jan. 3 from 1-4 p.m.; Jan. 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Jan. 10 from 1-4 p.m.; Jan. 16 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Jan. 17 from 9-11 a.m. Volunteers will help bring the donated trees to the collection area. Residents who are unable to bring a tree to the maintenance building at those times may request a curbside pickup.

For more information, send an email to pyne.vicepresident@gmail.com or to pyne.president@gmail.com.