A Christmas tree free of ornaments and lights only looks useless.  In Sacramento County, recycling gives dead Christmas trees new life.  SMUD spokeswoman Dace Udris explains. 
"When folks bring in their Christmas trees we go ahead and chip them with chippers and wood chips including those from Christmas trees make great mulch for gardening."
Nationwide, mulching is the most common way to re-purpose a Christmas tree.  But over the years, National Christmas Tree Association President Beth Walterscheidt has seen a variety of other uses from sinking trees in lakes to create fish habitats to stopping erosion along the gulf coast.  
"Anchor them all together and what that does is you put them along the shore and what that does instead of the waves washing out the sand underneath you know the trees are protecting the shoreline."
Starting Saturday you can recycle your tree at locations in Sacramento, West Sacramento and Folsom.