Random Idea.

I was out driving around today thinking about Christmas trees and mega churches.  I was thinking about the trees because I don't know how we are supposed to dispose of it this year and it does bother me that the expected course of action is just to dump it.  I was thinking about the mega church because I've heard that we'll have one open up in our town soon.

How do these two thoughts go together?  Most of the people going to the mega church are Christians (I say most because some non Christians might go to check out other religions or for the business contacts) and most of them will celebrate Christmas with trees.

The church could offer the trees for sale but the possibility of stepping on toes is huge and probably not the best idea for a new church.  However, the church could offer a way for the community to dispose of the trees.  They could rent a wood chipper and let people bring up their Christmas trees for the church to dispose of (get everyone's address of course).  They could even rent a bigger wood chipper and chip pallets and whatever lumber they had laying around as scrap.  Many of the parishioners will donate their trees because it's for their church.  Some locals will because it's faster to do that than wait for when the city picks them up.  Can you get a tax deduction for donating the raw materials for the church to do the next part?  Ask a tax professional.

The next part is selling the mulch and chips.  How much does a 7' tall tree become when it's mulched/chipped?  No idea, get the trees and do it.  Separate the chips into sand bags (available at a lot of places) and then sell them for something.  You can buy the expensive bags of mulch for $15/pound at your local store or buy it from your church, is it a tax deduction?  Ask a professional.  Of course the church's first priority is to meet more people and do the right thing.  If they happen to make a "profit" all the better.  The church couldn't market it as "organic" because you have to pay for that but they could easily say that your lawn is blessed with the combined love of our community.  Since you have the chipper contact your local warehouses and see who has old pallets they need to get rid of, if they throw them away then that adds to their waste disposal costs or they can donate them to the church.  That wood can also be chipped, some of the bigger pallets can be made into other things because the pieces are bigger than normal and they normally look aged and weathered.  Quite often people will pay extra for that distressed look.

For a more established church (with lots of people to draw on for their volunteer pool) they could even do a tree pickup for their older/infirm parishioners.  Maybe a tree delivery service for the bigger churches.  Of course while there I would expect the volunteers to keep their eyes open.  Does this person need some type of help?  Could a ramp be built for someone so they don't have to walk up steps to their front door?  If the house is a mess they might like the help to clean, then again they might be offended by your base accusations.  That's a fine line between helping and being meddlesome and judgmental, tread real lightly there.

If this idea is a hit it could be expanded into spring/summer/fall (whenever it's best to trim trees).  Take it to the next level and have a few trucks and trailers go to the houses that made reservations in advance and collect the wood that they have trimmed.  Chip and sell as normal.  Hopefully the costs will be offset by the sales of the mulch.  If you're lucky you can even get some company to donate the use of the trailers, trucks, or chippers.