Christmas decorations are now being packed away, but what will happen to the trees? Cities across the country are reminding residents that live trees can be recycled.

Many cities like Indianapolis haveopened Christmas tree drop-off sites and plan to keep them open through the end of January.

"We know how excited people can get to take Christmas decorations down after Christmas," said Ashley Elrod with the City of Fishers in Indiana. "It's great to see local residents utilizing this program."

Those residents include Keith Shipman, who hauled his tree to Holland Park the day after Christmas.

"The day before Christmas, I realized that the twigs were starting to just fall," Shipman said. "Today is a good day to get rid of it."

The trees recycled in Fishers will be used long after the holidays are over.

"Our Department of Public Works, they take these trees in and mulch them," Elrod said. "They actually spread that mulch in the parks."

"I didn't know that the city recycled them and used them back on their own grounds," Shipman said. "I just figured it was all mulched up and taken away in a truck somewhere."

Shipman hopes others with real Christmas trees decide to make use of local tree recycling programs.

"I'm trying to be more efficient with my greens and save the earth with sustainability," Shipman said. "I don't want to just dump it alongside the road somewhere."

This story was originally published by Taj Simmons at Scripps News Indianapolis.