Your guide to choosing a planet-friendly Christmas tree

Christmas trees:

Star or angel?*
Up on November 1st or wait until Christmas eve?
And of course – real or artificial?

Like most aspects of Christmas, our choice of tree feels super personal, and deeply tied to our childhood nostalgia. In this blog, Eve and Hannah explore how we can make the season both green and magical by choosing a planet-friendly Christmas tree

For Eve, there’s something that feels more authentic about getting a real tree; the day out going to pick one, getting home and being able to decorate it and the house gradually filling with the smell of fresh pine. “This pretty much describes my childhood, with my family usually opting for a real Christmas tree, and there’s something about a real tree that feels magical, cosy and quinessentially festive.”

Hannah feels the same. “I have this incredibly strong memory of being very unwell as a small child, maybe I was 3 or 4 years old, and being carried downstairs by my grandfather so I could snuggle up and just gaze at the Christmas tree with all its lights lit in a dark room – it felt so magical!”

For others, artificial is the way to go: The happy feeling of getting the familiar tree out of its box each year, no need to fuss about trying to get a tree in the car or deal with pine needles all over the floor. Plus of course, one less annual expense.

Each year, more and more people are thinking about how their Christmas celebrations impact the natural world and the climate; how do Christmas trees fit into this? In this blog we’re diving into the pros and cons of different options as well as offering up some ways to make sure your chosen tree as planet-friendly as possible.

Which is greener: Real trees vs artificial

Let’s start here, with the two most popular tree choices, and ask: What causes the least harm, a plastic tree that lasts multiple years or chopping down a live tree every year?

Pros of a real tree:

Bill Ulfelder, forester and director of the Nature Conservancy in New York is here to aid the debate. He is VERY pro real Christmas tree stating “There should be no remorse, no guilt, like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s a cut tree.’ It’s absolutely the contrary.” He offers up two key benefits of growing Christmas trees: their ability to store carbon as they grow and the (potential) role of Christmas tree farms in supporting biodiversity. We’re glad Bill is so happy about it, but as usual with sustainability questions, it’s not as clear-cut as all that – more on that below!
Living trees also provide year-round employment; there are over 1,500 Christmas tree farms around the UK.

Cons of real tree:

Christmas trees need water to grow and are often treated with pesticides.
Energy – usually fossil fuel based – is used to cut them down and transport them.
They are usually wrapped in plastic netting which can’t be easily recycled and is a nightmare for wildlife if it gets into the natural environment.
After Christmas they often end up in landfill sites, generating huge amounts of potent climate pollution.
Difficult for many people to manage, especially people with mobility issues, no car, or health conditions that can be triggered by pollen and sap.

Does your real Christmas tree really store that much CO2?

Yes – potentially almost a tonne of it if it’s allowed to grow to the average height of trees purchased in the UK, between 5 and 6 foot, which takes about seven – ten years. Great, we love locking up carbon.

But I can already hear you asking “What happens to that carbon after Christmas is over?! WHERE DOES THE CARBON GO?” Good question! And it partly depends what you do next with your tree… more on this key choice below.

Do real Christmas trees actually support biodiversity?

That depends on what the land they’re grown on would have been used for otherwise of course, but fundamentally yes. Despite being a monoculture crop, a Christmas tree farm may help clean polluted air, help prevent erosion or flooding, and make use of land that isn’t suitable for growing food. The operative word here is ‘may’ – how Christmas tree farms are managed varies considerably. You’ll be able to find out much more about how your tree was grown if you choose to buy from a farm rather than a garden centre or one of those big roadside tents; you can visit the farm, see how the trees are grown, and ask questions.

Hannah’s mum admires their 1970s set up – look at that tree!

Pros of an artificial tree:

70% of its carbon footprint is in its manufacture, so if you already have one and use it enough times, then it starts beating the living tree in terms of its carbon footprint (although of course it doesn’t offer any biodiversity benefits)
Estimates vary but to balance out the carbon embedded in the tree’s manufacture, you probably need to use your artificial tree for at least 14 years (estimates vary between 10 – 17 years depending on the type of living and artificial tree you’re comparing) for it to balance out its embodied emissions.
However, right now the average artificial tree is only used four times before it starts looking a bit ratty and goes to landfill.
Lighter and easier to manage for people with less mobility.
Buy it once: one less festive expense

Cons of an artificial tree:

An artificial tree has a carbon footprint of about 40kg; equivalent to a return coach trip from London to Glasgow, a leg of lamb, or leaving all the lights on in your house for two years and eight months.
The manufacture and transport of artificial trees is highly polluting. Most of them, unsurprisingly, are made in China and need to be shipped here.
They are usually made of a combination of steel and PVC which has a pretty nasty production process.
Artificial trees cannot be recycled due to the types of materials and mix of materials used.
There are concerns about the health impacts of the materials used to make artificials trees, particularly phthalates and flame retardants. The use of phthalates is highly controlled in Europe as they are carcinogenic and can cause reproductive problems as well as having long-term adverse effects on child growth and neurodevelopment; while safer PVC-free Christmas trees are becoming more easily available in the UK, many artificial trees pose a potential risk.

Choosing a greener tree

If you’re planning on buying an artificial tree, here are some options for making it as green as possible.

Choose a preloved tree: check out Used and Loved, facebook marketplace, or put a wanted ad on Olio or Freecycle. It is recommended that you give your new-to-you tree a good clean, as artificial trees that have been in storage for a while can harbour mould spores.
Choose a recycled and long lasting tree: Oncor is your best bet. They make 100% PVC recycled trees; they’re not cheap but they claim that their trees will last 30 to 50 uses.
Choose an artificial tree without integrated lights; these will likely fail while the tree has many years use left in it, and aren’t usually decided to be replaced.
Choose a PVC-free tree. IKEA’s is a good budget option, with some recycled content.

If you’re buying a real Christmas tree, here are some options for making it as green as possible.

Take an old duvet cover with you to replace that manky plastic netting. Some bungy cords, twine, or something else to tie it with will help wrap it up nice and snug for transportation.

When Hannah first did this a few years agoher family even got featured on the Christmas Tree farm’s social media as they thought it was a great idea and wanted others to try it!

Find a grower through the British Christmas Tree Growers Association: their members’ growing process is subject to stricter practices. This includes undertaking environmental reports on the area and ensuring that harvesting is respectful of birds and wildlife that use the trees as their home. Search for a local BCTGA grower here.
Collecting a tree locally? Check and see if there’s a local cargo bike courier who could collect it and save a car trip.
If you’re in England then you might have a Forestry Commission tree site near you.

Here are a few questions that might be worth asking to help you choose where to buy from:

If buying from a garden centre, farm shop etc: Are your trees British grown or imported?
Are your trees FSC certified? (FSC growers minimise pesticide use)
Do you use pesticides on your trees?

Disposing of your real tree: a choice that makes all the difference

Is there any sadder sight than naked Christmas trees rolling around the streets in January? In all the excitement of Christmas, it’s easy to forget about how we plan to dispose of our tree come new year.

Whatever you do, the key thing is to try and keep that tree out of landfill. if it ends up there its carbon footprint shoots up. The two most planet-friendly choices are…

Chip your tree and use the woodchip in your garden or locally (for example in a community garden)
Leave your tree (whole or chopped up a bit) to break down slowly as part of a habitat pile.

Treating your tree in this way keeps its carbon footprint low – about 3.5kg (as opposed to 16kg if it ends up in landfill). For context, 3.5kg is about the same as a small block of cheddar cheese or four bottles of beer. Most of us won’t have a garden chipper suitable for taking on a Christmas tree but it’s worth seeing if you can borrow one from your local Library of Things or from a neighbour. Using your tree like this will also encourage the growth of mosses and lichen (both great carbon storage heroes) and fungi, which help improve the soil.

We should say a word here about the fairly recent habit of people dumping trees in parks and green spaces. This isn’t a good idea! Apart from being fly tipping, there have been instances where piles of dumped trees have been set alight, and even if the trees are left to rot, you can have too much of a good thing: Christmas trees are quite acidic and an affect soil and vegetation if too many are dumped.

Burning your tree will make your tree carbon neutral (assuming a new tree was planted to replace the one you bought!), although if you’re doing this in an urban or high pollution area then it will contribute to particulate pollution.

Your next best options are to check with the place you bought it and ask if they take them back for chipping – most garden centres won’t but many Christmas tree farms will as they can use the wood chip right there – or with your local council. Lots of councils do offer tree collection and the trees will be chipped and used as mulch in local parks. You could also check out charities who will pick up your tree and take it for recycling in exchange for a donation – Just Helping is one long running example and you can check if they collect in your area. They have collection sites too (although none in Wales).

A few more bonus tips for using your tree in your garden:

If you lay it outside on a tarp you can collect the needles as they fall off. They’re acidic and make excellent slow release mulch for plants like blueberries.
Bury it in a pot so it stands upright and use it to hang bird feeders off
Use it as a support for climbing plants
Christmas tree branches and trunks, chopped and piled up, are a great way to start off a new compost heap. They will provide a slow to rot base that offers some nice air gaps that will keep your compost humming.

If you’re not keen on a real cut tree or a fake tree, what are your other options?

More people are now opting for a living tree that can be used year on year, and you can choose to either buy one and care for it yourself, or you can rent one.

Buying a pot grown tree is a good option if you’ve got somewhere to put it (either buried in the ground or in a nice big pot) and you don’t mind giving it a little care and attention throughout the year.

Our experience of this is that it’s a little challenging; Hannah and Becca have living Christmas trees at home that are buried in pots in the ground. They have done ok, as long as they have some extra watering in dry spells. At Railway Gardens, on the other hand, we’ve managed to kill not one but two living trees, despite them being in big pots, mulched, and watered regularly. You may have more luck than us with a tree in a pot though!

Renting a tree may be a better option for you if you don’t have lots of space, time, or even mobility to hoof a tree around. For a dinky tree you can hire one from about £30, but it’ll be more like £80 – £100 if you want a 6 footer. There’s usually also a returnable deposit on top of this in case you accidentally set fire to it or your cat shreds it, and sometimes a delivery fee.

There are rental options springing up around the country so it’s worth asking any local Christmas tree farms if this is a service they offer – some are even letting people adopt a tree so they receive the same one every year! Otherwise Green Elf Trees is a really good option for delivery to your door.

And finally, what if you’re not all that fussed about a living tree but still want a tree-ish centrepiece in your home? Alternative Christmas trees has sky rocketed in popularity in the last few years, and here are a few options – your mileage for these may vary depending on how many children and cats are in your home.

A book Christmas Tree! (This stresses Hannah out – “what if I suddenly wanted to read the book on the bottom?!”)
A branch or driftwood tree
A handprint tree – You can use scrap paper or junk mail, and with some battery fairy lights attached they look very cute. Hannah made the one pictured with her kids and it was a hit!
A stepladder tree
An egg box tree – or is that really stretching the concept?!

To conclude, here’s a little summary that will hopefully help you make a decision you feel good about this Christmas:

The most sustainable option is no tree or a tree made from things you already have. However…
A living tree, bought or rented, is your most sustainable option
Real but cut trees are the next best option if this works for you – but disposal is key. Keep that tree out of landfill!
If you have an artificial tree, keep it in use as long as possible. Aim for 14 years!

*To answer the star or angel question:

Eve’s family has a little set of decorations that include soldiers, rocking horses and ballerinas. “We’ve had these decorations for as long as I can remember (meaning they’re probably about 20 years old!). I can’t imagine throwing them away and hopefully they’ll be passed down to me as antiques.”

Hannah’s family, on the other hand, have a manky old white fluffy owl on a wire, know as the ‘hoochie koochie owl’. No one knows where he came from, no one really likes him much, and there’s always a huge row about whose turn it is to put him on the tree.