It's that time of year when we'll be seeing sad evergreen carcasses littering the sidewalks for a few weeks. And if you usually have your Recology pickups on Wednesdays, you should know to put your trash and recycling out on Saturday this week and next.

Did you buy a real tree for Christmas this year? If you live in San Francisco or Oakland, the clock is now counting down until mid-January when the city's trash collectors will no longer take away your tree from the curb, so keep that in mind if you're a procrastinator with these things. (In both Berkeley and San Mateo County you have until January 31st to put your trees out.)

San Francisco trash pickups that usually happen Wednesday have been rescheduled to Saturday for these holiday weeks since both Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Wednesdays — that means if you have trash piling up and you usually have Wednesday pickups, you should have that stuff out tonight for pickup tomorrow, and the same drill goes for next weekend.

As for discarded tree pickups, those will be handled by special crews who will be in operation between January 2 and January 15 only. Your tree should be put out with your regular bins — no ornaments, lights, tinsel, or stands — on your regular pickup day, and if the tree is larger than six feet Recology asks that you cut it in half. Place them beside the bins, at the curb. All the trees will get sent to the chipper and turned into mulch. Trees should not go into compost bins because pine pitch isn't great for compost.

To remind everyone of the annual tree service, Recology will be hosting the 33rd annual ceremonial “Chipping of the Trees” outside City Hall today (Friday), as the Examiner reports.

Department of Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon tells the paper, "We want to make sure that trees are disposed of properly so they don’t end up blocking sidewalks and curb ramps or causing fire hazards."

Recology expects to be sending 500 tons of tossed-out Christmas trees through their chippers this year in San Francisco alone.

Photo: SFEnvironment.org