Recycle That Tree

Where to recycle your Christmas tree for free in Austin

The new year means in with the new and out with the old — the old Christmas tree, that is. The City of Austin will help you recycle your tree (for free!) and give it new life in the form of Dillo Dirt, the city's own special blend compost made from residents' yard trimmings.

"Trees collected will be turned into mulch and will be available for free on a first-come, first-served basis to Austin residents starting Wednesday, January 21," states the City's information webpage.

The easiest way to get rid of your tree is to leave it on your curb by 6:30 am on your neighborhood's designated yard trimmings collection day (tip: trimmings are collected curbside every week on the same day as your trash collection). The tree must be completely decoration-free and any larger than six feet be cut in half.

If your area isn't serviced by the city or you have the transportation means, you can also drop your tree off at 2304 Rollingwood Drive (west of MoPac near Zilker Park) on the first and second weekends of January. Stop by any time between 10 am and 2 pm on January 3-4 or January 10-11 and the city will gladly take the holiday leftover off your hands.

Other places that will recycle your tree for free include Organics By Gosh, Walker Aero Environmental LLC (JV Dirt + Loam), Whittlesey Landscape Supplies in Round Rock and Texas Disposal Systems' Bee Caves and Creedmoor locations. You can visit each establishment's individual website for the address or take a look at the City of Austin website for more information.

unspecified

UT News

UT board pours $100M into Austin's new School of Civic Leadership

Photo courtesy of the University of Texas at Austin

The School of Civic Leadership will be housed in the Biological Laboratories building.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents has dedicated $100 million to creating a "permanent home" for the School of Civic Leadership. The 101-year-old Biological Laboratories building at UT Austin will be renovated by 2028 to house the civic school, which itself contains the regents-created and conservative donor-conceived Civitas Institute.

Justin Dyer serves both as founding director at the Civitas Institute, created in 2022, and as interim dean at the School of Civic Leadership, approved in 2023 and temporarily lodged in the Littlefield House. Once the civics school has taken up residence, some programs in the College of Natural Sciences and the Jackson School of Geosciences will "move to more modernized lab facilities elsewhere on campus," says a press release from the university.

According to the release, the school's purpose is "to equip the next generation of leaders with the philosophical, economic and historical understanding needed to preserve constitutional democracy." It promises "free speech and free inquiry," including viewpoints from "across disciplines and perspectives."

According to the Texas Tribune, the formation of this school in 2023 nullified the need for a vote to turn the Civitas Institute into a school, instead adopting it into a new structure.

"The decision by the board came before Texas lawmakers could vote on a bill by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, intended to turn the Civitas Institute into a college," the Tribune article explains. "The board’s creation of the new college makes that legislation unnecessary."

The center was originally called the Liberty Institute. At the time, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick endorsed the institute in strong language on Twitter: "I will not stand by and let looney Marxist UT professors poison the minds of young students with Critical Race Theory. We banned it in publicly funded K-12 and we will ban it in publicly funded higher ed. That’s why we created the Liberty Institute at UT."

Dyer has written eight books that largely cover the constitution and constitutional law. His most recent, with former Visiting Fellow with the Civitas Institute at UT Austin Kody Cooper, is The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding.

“The elected leaders of our state, as well as the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System, have long seen a need for programs in higher education that prepare future leaders to safeguard freedom,” said Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife in the 2025 release. “We have needed a place where civic education is focused on the foundational principles of our constitutional democracy. The School of Civic Leadership at UT Austin is that place, and today we are giving it a permanent home.”

The release states that this fall, the first 100 freshmen will join the new Civics Honors major, which targets career paths such as law, business and entrepreneurship, public service, national security, and health professions. Faculty will be involved from similar existing UT programs, but the school's goal is to hire "20 dedicated tenured or tenure-track faculty members by Fall 2026."

“This is a bold investment that empowers the School of Civic Leadership to fulfill its mission to prepare leaders committed to the principles of freedom, self-government and civic responsibility,” said Dyer. “We are profoundly grateful for the board’s commitment to our mission and its investment in the future of our country.”