Weekly Compost Pickup Season Ends Dec. 12 + Christmas Tree Dropoff Sites Open Dec. 15
The City of Ann Arbor’s regular, weekly curbside composting pickups will conclude Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. In 2026, the city will perform once-monthly pickup of compost carts throughout the winter, however no bags or bundles will be collected. Curbside compost cart pickups will take place during the weeks of Jan. 5, Feb. 2 and March 2, 2026. Carts will be collected on residents’ regular solid waste collection day.
Residents who do not have a compost cart can obtain one for free by contacting the city customer service center at 734.794.6320 or customerservice@a2gov.org. For information on winter composting and tips on how to prevent material from freezing to carts, such as lining the cart with a paper lawn and leaf bag, visit www.a2gov.org/wintercompost.
Christmas trees
The City of Ann Arbor will once again provide drop-off disposal locations for used, undecorated Christmas trees beginning Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, through Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. The city provides four free drop-off locations at city parks. No wreaths, garland, tree stands, lights or decorations are accepted.
The four park locations will be open for Christmas tree drop offs during normal park hours, 6 a.m.–10 p.m. The collected trees will be chipped on a regular basis at the park sites. The drop-off locations are:
- Bicentennial Park (Southeast Area Park) located on Ellsworth at Platt. Trees may be left at the dirt lot north of the basketball courts.
- West Park parking lot off Chapin near West Huron Street
- Gallup boat launch parking lot (not the Gallup livery), entrance on the southeast side of Geddes Road, East of Huron Parkway
- Olson Park parking lot, 1515 Dhu Varren Road, near Pontiac Trail
Trees must have all tree stands, nails, lights, ornaments, tinsel and plastic items removed before drop off. The collected Christmas trees are chipped into mulch or composted. Any lights, metal, glass or plastic ornaments left on the tree can ruin the processing equipment, harm the operators, and spoil the landscaping mulch and compost. Since wreaths and evergreen roping (garland) are generally made with wire or plastic backing, these items should be discarded by placing inside trash carts.
After Jan. 19, 2026, Christmas tree branches, less than 6 inches in diameter, can be cut and placed in compost carts for monthly winter compost service or saved for regular curbside compost service, which resumes in April 2026. For more information on composting, visit www.a2gov.org/compost.
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Media Contact:
Robert Kellar, Communications Specialist, rkellar@a2gov.org | 734.794.6000 ext. 41524