Release #752-97

Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958, Nydia Negron (212) 788-9364, Edward Skyler (Parks) (212) 360-1311

MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES "MULCHFEST '98"

Urges New Yorkers to Participate in Christmas Tree Recycling Project

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today joined a Parks Department's forestry crew to demonstrate the use of a power chipper to pulverize used natural Christmas trees. This chipping demonstration at City Hall Park is a preview to "Mulchfest '98", the Citywide Parks Department Christmas Tree Recycling Project, which will take place on Saturday, January 3, 1998, at sites in each of the five boroughs.

"I urge New Yorkers to participate in this environmentally-friendly way to dispose of their used Christmas trees," Mayor Giuliani said. "Instead of ending up in a City landfill, your Christmas trees--converted to chipped wood and mulch--will help to feed living trees, as well as restore damaged parkland that has been the site of illegal dumping or soil erosion."

For the second consecutive year, "Mulchfest" will provide the Parks Department with chipped wood, bark and needles to help feed living trees in City parks and along City streets.

Chips and mulch accumulated at Mulchfest will be taken to The Bronx Ferry Point Park recycling center for composting. This material will be added to lawn and garden waste collected by the Sanitation Department and then added to Parks restoration project sites. It will also be used at local neighborhood sites such as dog runs, pathways and new tree planting sites.

The Mayor urged New Yorkers to bring their used Christmas trees to locations in the five boroughs on Saturday, January 3, 1998, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Trees can be any size, but they should be stripped of all decorations.

DROP-OFF SITES

Manhattan:	Washington Square Park Fifth Avenue and Waverly Place (near the Arch)
Brooklyn:	Prospect Park BR>Third Street and Prospect Park West
Queens:	Cunningham Park Francis Lewis Blvd. & Union Turnpike Parking Lot #1
Staten Island:	Victory Nursery 3808 Victory Blvd.
The Bronx:	Ferry Point Recycling Center Service Road off Hutchinson Parkway

More information can be obtained by calling the Parks Department at 1-800-201-PARK.