NATCHEZ — Oh, Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, thy leaves are dead and browning.

After weeks of admiring a lighted Christmas tree and a day gathered around its tinseled limbs with wrapping paper thrown astray, residents must now face the fact that the holidays are coming to a close.

But three local agencies have teamed up to offer a way to let residents re-gift their tree to the environment and cut the garbage men and women a break at the curb.

Residents can recycle this year’s Christmas tree by dumping it in a bin at Stine starting today until Jan. 12.

The local Green Alliance organized the recycling effort with the cooperation of Waste Management and Stine.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” Green Alliance member Steve McNerney said.

Last year the mulch created from the Christmas memories that went to the chipper were donated to the City of Natchez, McNerney said.

In 2009, the mulch was donated for use at the Watkins Street Cemetery.

David Carter, Adams County extension service county director, offered some other environment-friendly alternatives for tossing out the tree.

Carter said submerging the trees in ponds or lakes can create a refuge for smaller fish living in the bodies of water and an opportunity for productive fishing.

“You may want to flag where it is, because it’s a great habitat for young fish,” Carter said.

Discarded Christmas trees also provide good kindling for campfires when ground up.

“You don’t want to turn them into litter because there’s other options that are usable,” Carter said.

McNerney said every yard of the container that is filled with trees at Stine makes for fewer yardages in which the trees would be decaying in a landfill.

Waste Management Route Manager Josh Owen said those that opt to leave their trees for trash pickup must cut them into 4-foot-long limb stacks.