Now that the holidays are over and you're left cleaning up the mess many wonder what to do with the beautiful Christmas tree that they painstakingly picked out. There was many a debate over which was the greener way to go: fake or real.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association website, “There are approximately 25-30 million real trees sold in the U.S. Every year.” 350 million real Christmas trees are currently growing on tree farms in the U.S. -- all planted by farmers. Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics and possible metal toxins such as lead. Real trees are a renewable, recyclable resource, and real trees are planted to be harvested just as corn and pumpkins.

If you chose to go to the living green route we will guide you through the process of the almighty tree-cycling! Do not put your tree on the street! Your tree needs to be recycled and most likely will not be picked up with the regular trash. Remember to remove all of the decorations, lights, tinsel, garland and ornaments. Every city in Arizona has a tree recycling drop-off site. Visit sites such as Earth911.com or your city's official website. There will be a detailed description of when and where the event will take place.

After your tree has been dropped off, it will be recycled into chips that go back into our state parks, rebuilding coastal wetlands or housing structures, and Burlington, Vt. incinerates the chipped trees to generate electricity. Now that's what I call sustainability!

[Update: The Tucson Weekly published specific information on TreeCycling in Tucson. Check out their informative article.]