Published: January 03, 2007 09:10 pm         

Sisters of Providence collecting old Christmas trees to use as alternate fuel source for St. Mary-of-the-Woods College

Though Christmas trees might lose value once the holidays pass, the Sisters of Providence want as many of the abandoned pines as they can find.

The religious order that started and operates St. Mary-of-the-Woods College will be accepting old Christmas trees at Fairbanks Park in Terre Haute from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The old trees will be recycled into wood chips for mulch and fuel. The college’s new biomass boiler runs on alternative energy sources instead of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Fairbanks Park was a good choice because of the location and the space available for the project, said Greg Ruark, superintendent of the Terre Haute Parks and Recreation Department.

The area that will be used is “nice and wide,” Ruark said. “It’s a large parking area, so there is plenty of room for those involved in the project to maneuver, plus vehicles to get in and out of the park.”

The recycled wood chips from Christmas trees will fuel the boiler, which will produce a flame to heat water into steam, which in turn heats the college.

“Most people would put natural gas or [fossil fuels] in their boilers,” said Sister Dana Augustin, who supervises biomass processing at the college, “but this is just a new system.”

College officials began looking into alternative fuel sources when oil and natural gas prices started to rise. Also, concern about a “peak oil situation where oil isn’t going to last much longer” factored into the decision to invest in the new boiler, Augustin said.

Jamax Corp. will help with the recycling program this weekend. Janice Peterson, sales manager for Jamax, became interested in The Woods’ new recycling program shortly after reading about it.

She “thought it was a good way for us to kick off our recycling initiative within the city,” Peterson said, “and just thought it’d be good for everybody.”

The new boiler already is installed on campus, although some work is needed before it can be used, Augustin said. She hopes it will be running before the spring.

She believes it will be a no-cost endeavor for the college and will provide a service to the community since the Sisters of Providence will be recycling old plants and wood.

“Most people will either give that to us or pay us to take it,” Augustin said, “because otherwise most of that would be used as landfill, like the Christmas trees.”

Austin Arceo can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or austin.arceo@tribstar.com.

Check it out

Who: The Sisters of Providence

What: The religious order that founded and runs St. Mary-of-the-Woods College will be collecting old Christmas trees.

When: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Where: Fairbanks Park in Terre Haute

Why: The Sisters of Providence will use a wood chipper to grind the discarded trees into wood chips, some of which will be used as a fuel source for the new biomass boiler at St. Mary-of-the-Woods. The boiler uses alternatives to fossil fuels to heat the college.

Source: St. Mary-of-the-Woods College