Now that Christmas is over, many New Yorkers are looking to get rid of their trees and wreaths soon — but they will have to wait just a bit longer.

The city's sanitation department is scheduled to begin curbside pickup of old trees Jan. 2, with the pickups running through the 13th.

The plan is for the trees to be shredded and turned into mulch for use in parks around the city.

Nearly 250,000 trees were collected from curbsides last year, but sanitation officials warn against these common mistakes:

"Don't ever put it in a large plastic bag, because that makes it much more difficult for us to as, we call it, 'tree-cycle,'" said Vito Turso, the sanitation department's deputy commissioner for public affairs. "No tinsel, no lights, no ornaments, no stands. We really want the naked tree placed out at the curbside."

Another option to ditch your tree is at Mulchfest with the city parks department.

You can have your tree chipped at locations across the city, and even take some of the mulch home with you.

Learn more at www.nycgovparks.org