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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque attorney David Grammer finessed the Christmas tree off the roof of his car at the Eagle Rock Convenience Center on Tuesday, the first day of the annual “treecycling” effort that goes through Jan. 15.

The live tree was added to a pile of others that will be ground into wood chips and will be available for free to area residents while supplies last.

“This is the first time in many years we had a natural tree, but we never thought about doing anything other than recycling it,” Grammer said. “It saves space in the landfill and I’m glad to see that the city makes the mulch available to people for use in their landscaping. The grandkids seem to enjoy the aesthetics of a live tree, so I’d do it again.”

Started 25 years ago, the program is a joint initiative of the Public Service Company of New Mexico, and the city’s Solid Waste Management and Parks and Recreation departments. Last year, the program recycled about 10,000 trees from three Albuquerque drop-off locations; another 2,000 trees were recycled at one drop-off site in Rio Rancho, said Aubrey Johnson, vice president of operations for PNM, who briefly spoke at the Tuesday kick-off of the program at the Eagle Rock Convenience Center.

In conjunction with the Treecycling program, the drop-off locations also provide receptacles for people to recycle their old Christmas tree lights, which are run through the regular recycle process in the convenience centers where the copper and plastics are separated, recycled and reused, said John Soladay, director of the Solid Waste Management Department.

Trees and lights can be recycled seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the three Albuquerque locations: Montessa Park Convenience Center, 3512 Los Picaros SE; Eagle Rock Convenience Center, 6301 Eagle Rock NE; and Ladera Golf Course at Coors and Ladera NW.