Iberia Parish residents who want to get rid of Christmas trees will have the chance Saturday.

Iberia Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director Jim Anderson said residents should place Christmas trees on the roadside to be picked up.

For residents within New Iberia city limits and for St. Martin Parish residents, Christmas trees are being picked up by the regular contracted waste collection companies on regularly scheduled pickup days.

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Trees will not be recycled for coastal protection in Iberia or St. Martin parishes this year because the fenced-in areas along the coast are full, but marsh grasses will be planted with the grant money normally used for Christmas tree recycling.

In St. Mary Parish, trees will be picked up by Swdi, the local garbage collection company, and are being brought to the local landfill.

Frank Cali, environmental officer and Christmas tree coordinator for St. Mary Parish, said from the landfill, the trees collected will go, along with 1,500 other trees from Lafayette Parish, to the fenced-in pens at Cypremort Point for coastal protection.

“A lot of pens had damage from the storms,” Cali said. “So a lot of the contract money is going toward repairing of fences. We’re not using as many trees as normal.”

Cali said the rest of the grant money will be used to plant saltwater grass, which is another form of coastal protection, at Cypremort Point.