Not sure about you, but choosing between a real Christmas tree and a plastic one was a real topic of debate in my household.
Which is more eco-friendly? Cutting down a living tree, or buying a non-perishable plastic tree?
6 Reasons Real Trees Are the Bees Knees
1. Buying real trees supports the local economy
When you purchase a tree at a tree farm, you’re spending money at a small, local business. Even trees sold at large retailers are sourced locally! Rather than giving your hard-earned cash to a large conglomerate that manufactures plastic trees, support local business and buy real!
2. Real trees consume CO2
As you may know, trees consume CO2 - that’s one of the reasons they’re so excellent for the local environment. Over their lifetime, even a young tree that is being grown for holiday harvesting can consume up to 13 lbs of CO2 per year.
3. Real trees release oxygen into the atmosphere
With all that CO2 being consumed, trees release oxygen into the environment. Why is that important?
Um, well, because we breathe oxygen.
A single tree can produce up to 260 pounds of oxygen each year! That’s about the same amount of oxygen required by two people for the whole year.
Crazy, eh?
4. Real trees break down in the soil
Unlike plastic, real trees will eventually break down and feed the soil from whence it came.
As we all know, plastic that is sent to landfill most often ends up as microplastics in our waterways, our oceans, our fields and - horrifyingly - even our consumables (like water bottles).
You will never have to worry about a real tree coming appearing as a micro-anything in your lunch!
5. Real trees have a vastly lower carbon footprint
A tree that is grown in the soil and landfilled has a carbon footprint of 16kg of CO2; a tree that is chipped, burnt or replanted only produces 3.5kg.
Now, compare this to a plastic tree’s footprint of 40kg of CO2.
You would need to use a plastic tree for over ten years for that plastic tree to equal a real tree’s carbon footprint. And
Say no to plastic - our earth cannot take any more of it!
Want bonus points? Buy a locally sourced Christmas tree and cut down on those transportation miles!
6. Real trees have that unbeatable Christmas-y scent
This may not be an ecological factor, but that spicy-fresh pine smell really adds a certain je ne sais quoi to anyone’s holiday home.
To Summarize
No matter what, buying a real tree is almost always the more eco-friendly option for celebrating this holiday.
On top of that: can you really beat the feeling of having a pleasant-smelling, oxygen-emitting plant in your home?
A Note on Terminology
The FoodCycler® is a countertop electric food waste recycler that breaks down food scraps through a mechanical process into a dry, lightweight by-product that can be used in gardening applications as a fertilizer. The FoodCycler® and other electric food waste recyclers are not composters, nor do they produce compost or soil as they do not require additional microbes to break down food waste with bacteria. However, the term "electric composter" has been used to describe electric food waste recyclers.