HONG KONG, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government will collect natural Christmas trees after the Christmas holiday in 2019, to encourage recycling of yard waste, said the authority in a statement Thursday.

The EPD called on the public and commercial and industrial organizations to join this program and deliver their used trees to 13 collection points in Hong Kong, otherwise many Christmas trees will end up rotting in landfills.

An EPD contractor will recycle suitable natural Christmas trees into various useful materials such as mulch for planting purposes and compost. The collection will be conducted on Jan. 3-6, 2020.

An e-certificate will be issued to the participants and organizations in the program to recognize their support for environmental conservation. The public are also encouraged to keep artificial Christmas trees and other festival decorations for reuse to help reduce waste and conserve resources, EPD said.