Posted Friday, January 6, 2012 -- 7:20 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The state Department of Natural Resources is again urging people to recycle their Christmas trees.

Rather than throwing trees out on the curb and adding more waste to landfills, the DNR says people can re-use them in a number of earth-friendly ways.

The agency suggests taking trees outside to provide winter shelter for birds and animals, trimming small branches off to serve as cover for garden plants, using the trunk as a tomato stake, using dried branches as firewood and chipping trees into mulch.

The agency also says that in years to come people should buy live trees rather than artificial ones, which take resources to create and will probably end up in landfills after a few years.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.