It’s that time of year again, when the holiday trimmings start coming off, get put into big plastic storage bins in the shed or garage, leaving behind a dilapidated and dried up, dangerously flammable Christmas tree with no place to go.

And not only that, but you probably also have lots of cardboard boxes, Styrofoam and packing materials scattered about as well.

Here’s your B-Town Blog guide to how to recycle your holiday crap:

BOY SCOUT TROOP #375 RECYCLING EVENT SAT./SUN. JAN. 2-3:

• Boy Scout Troop #375 will be recycling trees on Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 2nd and 3rd) from 9am – 3pm.
• Go to BTB Advertiser Herr Backyard Garden Center on SW 160th near First Ave South, and look for the Boy Scouts and wood chipper device.
• $5 fee per tree.
• Trees must be “clean,” meaning no tinsel, no forgotten ornaments, etc.
• Call Herr Garden Center for more information: 242-2014.

NORMANDY PARK:

• Allied Waste provides curbside collection of Christmas Trees to single-family residential yard debris customers.
• Yard Debris customers can set Christmas trees out on their regularly scheduled collection day.
• Trees must be free of flocking, tinsel, ornaments and metal hangers, cut to 4′ lengths and tied into bundles less than 2′ wide.
• Use biodegradable string or twine – no nylon, plastic or other synthetic materials.
• Flocked trees are not recyclable and will not be accepted – put flocked trees in the garbage.

JAN. 11-15 DES MOINES TREE-CYCLING EVENT:

• Allied Waste will be picking up Christmas trees for City of Des Moines residential curbside customers during the week of January 11 – 15 on the normal garbage pick-up day.
• Place trees curbside, cut into 4′ lengths and tie into bundles no more than 2′ wide.
• Tinsel, garland, and ornament hangers must be removed.
• There will be no charge for this special pick-up.
• Must be a garbage customer to be eligible.
• Trees need to be cut into 4′ lengths and tied into bundles no more than 2′ wide.
• Call Laura Techico with questions at 206-870-6595.

DO IT YOURSELF:

• Waste Management also takes Christmas trees, but we suggest cutting yours in 4′ lengths and tie it into bundles less than 2′ wide, and perhaps even cutting it up and placing it inside your yard waste container.
• Pacific Topsoils, Inc. in Tukwila allows Christmas tree drop-offs; Call for Hours (206) 772-3091; located at 6000 S 129th Street in Tukwila.
• King County has several options for recycling Christmas trees. Call the King County Solid Waste Division Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm

More suggestions from Sustainable Burien’s website:

• Styrofoam: at the Sustainable Burien collection event on Thursday, Dec. 31st and Friday, Jan. 1 or at Styrorecycle any time. All Styrofoam must be clean. They’ll also take clean packing peanuts of all types. See their Events page for details.
• Christmas Trees: In your yard waste (ornaments and other non-biodegradable items need to be removed, check with your waste collection company to see how much cutting you need to do) or at the above-mentioned Boy Scout Troop #375 tree-cycling event.
• Boxes and wrapping paper: In with your regular recycling as long as you’ve removed ribbons, bows and any other non-recyclable material. Foil wrappings, wrapping with embedded material and other non-paper wrappings are not recyclable.
• Electronics: Under a Washington State law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2009, TVs, computers, monitors and laptops can be recycled for free at many locations. Usable, working items can be dropped off at most charities who will resell them. Dead or out-dated items can be recycled at a number of locations. Personally I suggest taking all electronics to RE-PC in Tukwila or South Seattle. They will resell what they can, and what can’t be sold is recycled properly and locally through Total Reclaim which is important. Some recycling locations ship material out of State or worse yet out of the country for “recycling” and that can cause big problems. See our archived tip for details. If all you’ve got is items that can’t be resold, save a step and take them all to Total Reclaim. Contact them to see what else they’ll take.
• For other Holiday related items: see the links in the top right corner of the King County Solid Waste Page.

You can always tell when the Christmas season is upon us when the cut Christmas trees are on the lot and ready for sale at BTB Advertiser Herr Backyard Garden Center in Burien – let the Holiday’s begin at Burien’s Christmas Store!

Burien-ites have counted on Herr for their fresh-cut Christmas trees for many years, including back in the day when it was Herr Lumber. Still in the original lumber yard location, the Herr sister-in-laws, Diane Herr-Lorella and Lisa Herr continue the family tradition.

You can get your fresh-cut tree starting this Friday, Nov. 27th at 10am. From then until Dec. 23rd they’ll be open seven days a week from 10am-8pm, so you’ll be able to get your picture-perfect tree after work, or on weekends. They’ll also be open ’til 1pm on Christmas Eve.

Hand picked trees include Nobels, Grands, Frasers, Douglas–both shirred and natural–and of course good ole’ deluxe “Charley Browns.” Prices start at just $11.95! Plus they’ve got a gorgeous selection of artificial and flocked trees in their Gift Shop. From “all that glitters IS gold”, to silver to green they’ve got only the best in artificials.

And because Herr is Burien’s Christmas Store, you know you’ll find lots of gifts for everyone on your list. From private label foodstuffs to newley arrived “Pashminas”, novelty tablewear, to Christmas lights, you’ll find that this season Lisa and Diane made some very sharp purchases to pass holiday savings on to their customers. And while you’re in the gift shop be sure and check out their complete wall of affordable and unique and one-of-a kind tree ornaments–the largest selection in the Highline area.

SPECIAL DEAL: And this year when you purchase a Herr Gift Card as a gift, when you mention The B-town Blog, they’ll add 10% to your card.

Let’s see…that means that if you buy a $50 gift card, they’ll put $55 on the card!

Since Herr is a garden store, Diane and Lisa have recommended that you consider giving a living gift of a shrub or tree this Christmas. Give it now and plant it in the spring. They’ve also got a nice selection of live Christmas trees to decorate now and plant later.

‘Tis the season to be jolly. The Christmas season starts this Friday, Nov. 27th when BTB Advertiser Herr Backyard Garden Center’s fresh Christmas trees go on sale starting at 10am.

Herr is located at 107 SW 160th, near the Five Corners area in Burien.

[Would you like to have a “Blogvertorial” story, event listing and/or Ad like this on a popular, fast-growing website seen by nearly 40,000 interested Local Readers every month? Email us for more info, or check out our Advertise page!]

Welcome our latest Advertiser – Herr Backyard Garden Center!

You can always tell when Spring is upon us: the camelia buds are ready to burst open, the roses need their first hard prune, the primroses are adorning shelves and yards everywhere, the honeysuckle’s in bloom with bees abuzzing and of course:

For the past five years Herr Backyard Garden Center has its
NEW SEASON GRAND OPENING EVENT AND SALE!

This year the event will be Saturday Feb. 28 and Sunday Mar. 1 from 10am-4pm.

They’ll be food samples, BBQ hotdogs (weather permitting), paint-a-pot for kids, plus very special prices throughout the entire store.

On stock for the sales event are plenty of early spring annuals including pansies, primroses and violas. Plus they’ve got plenty of colorful containers, gazebos, yard ornaments, patio furniture, chemicals including a large selection of organics for the ‘green gardeners’ among our eco-friendly BTB readers. And they’ve got the staff to explain organic gardening to you. If you plan to plant a veggie garden this year Herr’s also got plenty of high quality seeds on hand.

Herr Backyard was started by two stay-at-home moms when there was no longer a reason to stay home. “Herr sister-in-laws” Diane Herr-Lorella and Lisa Herr started the garden and gift center when most of Diane’s three daughters and Lisa’s two daughters didn’t need them hovering about any longer. Diane explained that in the early 2000s she was quite ill, and felt that through her illness “there was nothing more positive than flowers.” Once well, she and her sister-in-law Lisa started on their journey into the garden business in 2003 in the Five Corners shopping area (1st Ave South and SW 160th).

What started with selling plants on a matt of AstroTurf in the parking lot in 2003 has turned into a full-blown nursery business. The nursery is in the old lumber yard base and is stocked with “climatized” perennials, shrubs and annuals that are native to this area. We were told that “if plants could talk they’d say ‘take me home and plant me today.’” This means you can go home and plant them the same day, rather than “season” them first. Diane tells BTB that this year they’ll have a “bigger and better array of sustainable natives like red twig maples, vine maples & salal.

As if running a nursery wasn’t enough for these two hard working women, Lisa and Diane opened Herr Backyard Garden Center’s Gift Shop shortly after the nursery. The shop sits where the ‘molding bay’ was when it was the lumber yard. They pride themselves on offering extremely unique gifts that are bought in the northwest. We at BTB were especially curious about the Northwest Slug Butter. Doesn’t that sound like something to spread on your bagels? We hear it’s pretty good. In addition to this they offer Braswell’s Select preserves, private label BBQ sauce and chocolate syrup. They’ve got a large selection of Root Candles and artificial flowers (for those who can’t wait for their own garden to bloom). From Huckleberry Haven, Herr offers huckleberry syrups and jam.

Diane is a two-year breast cancer survivor. Having been through chemo herself, she invites women in treatment at Highline Medical Center to stop by after chemo to enjoy the flowers.

“Being sick is a negative. Plants are a positive,” states Diane.

When asked what Diane would like BTB Readers to know about Herr Backyard that they wouldn’t find on their website, her response was “I have the cutest, brightest, smartest grandkids of anybody.” So far her girls have given her 3-3-1/4 grandaughters!

The Herr family has been part of the Burien community for over 50 years. And if these two ladies have anything to do with it, they could be here another 50 years. So far they’ve suffered through two years of road construction, two snowed-out winter storms and now the downturn in the economy–and they’re hanging in. Keep them on their corner.

This year buy locally and buy from the experts at Herr Backyard Garden Center. We can state with pride that we’re regular Customers, and we encourage all our Readers to support local small businesses like this over those big “box stores”!

View Larger Map

[Are you interested in getting a "Blogvertorial" Ad like this for your Business? Email us for more info, or check out our Advertise page!]