Temple Offering Christmas Tree Disposal and Cooking Grease Recycling

Having a real, live Christmas tree can be great, but getting rid of it once the holiday is over...not so much. This year, the City of Temple wants to make it easy for you.

Between Saturday, December 26 and Monday, January 11, you can drop your tree off at either Temple Recycling Center. They're located at 3015 Bullseye Lane and 602 Jack Baskins Street.

You can also leave your tree on the curb for regular brush pickup, but it may be quicker to drop it off at one of the recycling centers if you need to dispose of the tree ASAP.

They ask that you please remove all decorations from the tree before disposal.

The City of Temple is also making changes to the usual garbage and recycling collection schedule.

If your collection day would have fallen on Thursday, December 24, your items will be collected on Wednesday, December 23.

If your day would have been Friday, December 25, your items will instead be picked up on Thursday, December 24.

Basically, put your bins by the curb a day early. Make a note or set an alarm in your phone so you don't end up with a mountain of garbage after the holiday.

If you're doing the cooking this year (and perhaps frying a turkey), chances are you'll end up with a lot of leftover cooking oil. While a lot of folks save that grease, you may want to get rid of it since there'll be so many leftovers taking up space in your fridge and freezer.

Good news: the City of Temple and Temple Fire & Rescue will take that off your hands, too.

From Saturday, December 26 to Monday, December 28, you can drop off your used cooking oil at these Temple fire stations:

Central Fire Station, 210 N 3rd St.

Fire Station #3, 3606 Midway Dr.

Fire Station #4, 411 Waters Dairy Rd.

Fire Station #7, 8420 W Adams Ave.

Drop-off times are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Naturally, they ask that the grease be in a closed container when you drop it off. Just make sure it's your grease and not someone's retirement grease. (Sorry. I couldn't resist another Simpsons reference.)