Rome, GA - Join the tradition and give a gift of nature this holiday season! Keep Georgia Beautiful and Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful invite you to celebrate the 17th annual “Bring One for the Chipper” event and recycle your Christmas tree after the holidays.

As part of a statewide effort to reuse Christmas trees, Keep Georgia Beautiful at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs has joined with sponsors The Home Depot, 11 Alive (Atlanta’s NBC affiliate) and The Davey Tree Expert Company to sponsor the “Bring One for the Chipper” program.

Rome and Floyd County residents are invited to bring their trees to The Home Depot, located at 103 Hicks Drive in Rome, on Saturday, January 6, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. In appreciation for their recycling efforts, participants will receive a free bald cypress tree seedling while supplies last.

The recycled trees will either be chipped into mulch or used as wildlife habitats. Mulch is used for beautification projects and is available to all citizens in Rome and Floyd County at the Vaughn Road site near the City of Rome’s Public Works Offices on Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful will make all trees deposited at The Home Depot on Saturday, January 6, 2007 available to anyone wishing to create fish habitats in local lake properties. However, the trees will not be available for distribution until 12:00 noon. Those wishing to obtain trees must register at the site and the trees will be divided equally among registrants at the end of the event.

Since 1991, “Bring One for the Chipper” has collected over 4.5 million trees and provided over one million tree seedlings to participants. Last year, more than 225,000 trees were recycled. The program produces tangible environmental benefits while helping local governments comply with state regulations that prohibit the disposal of yard trimmings in municipal landfills.

“For seventeen years, ‘Bring One for the Chipper’ and our corporate sponsors have made it possible for Georgians to dispose of their trees in a way that is beneficial to our environment,” said Keep Georgia Beautiful’s Roxi Konnick, coordinator of the statewide event. “Because of this program, thousands of Georgian's have made Christmas tree recycling a holiday tradition.”