Each holiday season, shoppers find themselves confronted with a choice: celebrate with a fresh, real tree, or one that is artificial plastic or aluminum. What most people don’t realize is that the best choice has always been the traditional and natural choice – a Real Christmas Tree.
Celebrating the holiday season with a Real Christmas Tree is a long-standing tradition. Each year, millions of American families celebrate the holiday season with a fresh, farm-grown Christmas
Tree. Christmas Tree enthusiasts believe the aroma of a Real Christmas Tree is a strong reminder and symbol of life, family traditions and the innocence of childhood itself. Much like other crops provide food for the body, the aroma of a farm-grown Christmas Tree provides food for the soul.
Real Christmas Trees Benefit the Environment
While they’re growing, Real Christmas Trees support life by absorbing carbon dioxide and other gases and emitting fresh oxygen. The farms that grow Christmas Trees stabilize soil, protect water supplies and provide refuge for wildlife while creating scenic green belts. Often, Christmas Trees are grown on soil that doesn’t support other crops.
Real Christmas Trees Are Renewable
Real Christmas Trees are grown on farms just like any other agricultural crop. To ensure a constant supply, Christmas Tree growers plant one to three new seedlings for every tree they harvest. On the other hand, artificial trees are a petroleum-based product manufactured primarily in Chinese factories. The average family uses an artificial tree for only six to nine years before throwing it away, where it will remain in a landfill for centuries after disposal.
Real Christmas Trees Are Recyclable
After the holidays, don’t throw your Real Christmas Tree in the trash or set it on the curb. Real Christmas Trees are biodegradable, which means they can be easily reused or recycled for mulch and other purposes. Here are some recycling options and tips on what to do with your tree after the holidays. Every community is different, but in general, you have these options:
Curbside pick-up for recycling: Many providers will collect trees during regular pickup schedules on the two weeks following Christmas. There are often requirements for size, removing ornaments, flocking, etc.
Take your tree to a drop-off recycling center: Most counties have free drop-off locations. Usually, you may take up to two trees to a drop-off location at no charge. Check with Wichita.Gov to find a Christmas Tree recycling center near you. The Wichita Parks board and the Fire Department spend a lot of time and effort to help recycle trees after the holidays. Thank you Wichita for recycling!
Yard waste: Cut the tree to fit loosely into your yard waste container.
Tree recycling/mulching programs: Tree recycling and mulching programs are a fast-growing trend in communities throughout the nation. Check with your local department of public works for information. They chip and shred the trees, then make the mulch available for use in your garden. Your hauler will notify you of pick-up dates in your area. Be sure to check with your local hauler.
Nonprofit pickup: Call for an appointment to have a nonprofit organization in your area pickup your tree. Some Boy Scout troops offer a pickup service for a small donation (often $5).
Real Christmas Trees Help Preserve Green Spaces
Real Christmas Trees are often grown on soil that does not support other crops. Theres a myth that all Real Christmas Trees come from
pristine forests and therefore it is shameful to use a Real Tree instead of an artificial one. Of course, this is only myth… 98% of all Real Christmas Trees used each year are grown on farms as
sustainable crops, just like corn or pumpkins.
Finally, Please don’t buy artificial…
Here are ten other facts that could sway you away from buying an artificial tree:
1. Your artificial tree has about an 85% chance of being made in China.
2. Most artificial trees are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a non-renewable, petroleum-based plastic, whose production releases carcinogens.
3. The average family uses an artificial tree for six to nine years before it ends up in a landfill.
4. A byproduct of artificial tree factories? Industrial pollution. Byproduct of tree farms? Oxygen and absorption of carbon.
5. In the event of a fire, an artificial tree will release hazardous fumes.
6. The U.S. Christmas live tree industry creates more than 100,000 jobs.
7. An acre of Christmas trees provides the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.
8. For every real Christmas tree harvested, two to three seedlings are planted in its place the following spring.
9. This is what a Chinese tree factory looks like and this is how trees are made. This is what an American Christmas tree farm looks like and this is how the trees grow.
10. Approximately 20 million plastic trees in U.S. households have a danger of lead exposure due to aging.