Hempfield baseball team to host Christmas tree recycling event

A Hempfield baseball team is hosting a Christmas tree recycling program this holiday season.

Members of the 13U Hempfield Spartans Metro Baseball team will head out into the community between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday and again on Jan. 9 to pick up trees at houses around the township to raise money for their season while also supporting the community they play in, said Scott Harshman, assistant coach for the team.

“Anything we can do to give back to the community and help our boys appreciate it a little better,” said Harshman of Hempfield. “It’s a nice event.”

Prior to the team going into the community, Harshman schedules pickup times with interested residents and creates a spreadsheet and Google Map so the team knows which houses are designated for pickup on which days.

With the help of parents, the team will split into groups, collecting between two and three trees and taking them to a drop off spot along Route 136 near Hempfield Area High School.

From there, Hempfield Township, in partnership with Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling, will have the trees chipped into mulch that will be used by municipalities across the county for community parks, or placed in natural areas to provide wildlife habitat.

“Putting it out to the curb just doesn’t seem like the right thing to do in this day in age, especially with all the issues we’re dealing with with the environment,” Harshman said.

After the first year of doing the project, Harshman said they decided to charge $10 to pick up a tree. Half of that money goes toward the team while the other half goes to the Hempfield Park Fund, which is used for park improvements across the township.

To schedule a tree pickup, Harshman can be reached at 412-558-0064.

“It (turned) into a nice little project and I think the community appreciates it, too,” he said.