Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 05, 2026
No. 1
www.nyc.gov/parks

NYC PARKS CELEBRATES MULCHFEST CHIPPING WEEKEND AT WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK

Mulchfest 2026 Chipping Weekend: On January 10 and 11, bring your tree and take a bag of mulch home!

Today, NYC Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Council Member Harvey Epstein, Council Member Erik Bottcher, CB2 Chair Valeria Del a Rosa, and community members chipped holiday trees in Washington Square Park to celebrate the upcoming Mulchfest Chipping weekend.

“Mulchfest is one of New York City’s favorite sustainability traditions, and last year New Yorkers showed up in a big way, by chipping over 52,000 trees! I am hoping that together as a city we can do even better this year, “said NYC Parks Commissioner Iris-Rodriguez Rosa. “Turning holiday trees into valuable mulch not only supports our parks year-round, but it allows us to come together to practice sustainability and environmental responsibility. Let’s make Mulchfest 2026 one to remember!”


Drop-offs are located at 76 sites citywide, including:

Bronx:

St. James Park

Pelham Bay Park

Williamsbridge Oval Park

Crotona Park-Tennis house

Brooklyn:

Prospect Park- Lincoln Road & Ocean Avenue

Coffey Park

Sunset Park

Washington Park

Manhattan:

Morningside Park

Seward Park

Central Park- W 67th Street (north side of Tavern on the Green entrance

Washington Square Park

Staten Island:

Silver Lake Tennis House

Tappen Park

Wolfe's Pond Park

Willowbrook Park

Queens:

Rockaway Beach - Shore Front Pkwy & Beach 94th Street

Queensbridge Park (Vernon Boulevard and Queensbridge Park Greenway)

John Golden Park (215th Place and 33rd Avenue)

Lawrence Virgilio Playground (Windmuller) (39th Drive and 54th Street)

For more information, including the full list of Mulchfest drop-off and Saturday chipping sites, visit: www.nyc.gov/mulchfest.

Mulchfest 2026 runs from December 26 through January 11. New Yorkers can drop off holiday trees at one of 76 sites – including 35 chipping sites – across the five boroughs, including parks and Greenthumb gardens. The trees are then chipped and recycled, and the mulch is used to nourish city trees and plants in every corner of the city.

ABOUT NYC PARKS MULCHFEST:

Mulchfest, part of the New York City holiday tradition, encourages New Yorkers to make greening a family activity by turning holiday trees into mulch that can be used for gardening and to increase soil fertility. For more than 20 years, Parks has collected and mulched trees to help planting beds and community gardens around the city grow. Mulch maintains the health of our trees and plants citywide by deterring weeds, retaining moisture, preventing compaction, adding nutrients to the soil, and keeping roots warm. In recent years, Parks has mulched between 25,000 and 30,000 on average annually, with over 42,000 mulched during 2024, setting a Mulchfest record. In 2025, NYC Parks achieved the second-highest Mulchfest record, chipping over 52,000 trees into sustainable mulch.