Fire safety experts say that it is a good time to start thinking about recycling Christmas trees now that the holiday is over.

The longer real trees are kept inside home, the more likely they are to get dry and become a fire hazard, according to Daniel Stanley of the Linden Fire Department.

"The lighting on them could be a fire hazard so what you want to do is you want to take them out of the house, if the needles are falling," Stanley says. "Don't store them in the garage and put them to the curb."

Many towns have programs to help residents recycle or safely throw out Christmas trees.