Real Christmas Trees are Green! - How green was your plastic artificial Christmas tree?

Whether you decide on a spruce, a pine or a fir, choosing a real Christmas Tree this December is the right choice for the environment. Nothing can replace the look, smell and feel of a real Christmas Tree, especially one that has been freshly cut at Christmas Tree Farm, Chesham.

Whereas until recently, imports made up a large percentage of supply of real trees, British growers are now producing a large variety of species and almost all the Christmas Trees. As such, far less fuel is being used to transport trees over long distances accross Europe.

The way that growers cultivate their Christmas Trees has also changed in that they are now all grown especially as Christmas Trees - for each tree cut most British growers and we at Christmas Tree Farm, Chesham, plant at least one new tree, ensuring that all our production is sustainable.

Our plantations are on land that had previously been used for arable or equestrian use. The Christmas Trees provide much more cover for both mammals and birds than did the previous crops, whilst no broadleaf trees were removed to make way for our plantations.

Real Christmas Trees are the environmentally friendly option. Like all trees, Christmas tree plantations act as a Carbon Dioxide sink, the difference is we plant more trees each year whilst the number of trees elsewhere (especially in rainforests) sadly dwindle. One acre of Christmas Trees produces the daily requirement of oxygen for 18 people, and whilst growing, each tree fixes carbon dioxide given off by cars and aeroplanes. All trees also split water vapour into hydrogen and oxygen, reducing the humidity of the air surrounding the tree, wood or plantation - this improves air quality during our increasingly hot, humid summers, without the need for power hungry air conditioning units.

We have expanded our plantation each year by growing more and more trees

Artificial Trees are Not the Green Alternative

In comparison, artificial trees are non-biodegradable, and their manufacturing process requires large amounts of fossil fuels. Their manufacture occurs in countries that have very few, if any, environmental controls on emissions of noxious gasses. The transportation of artificial trees, halfway around the world, also adds significantly to the overall consumption of fossil fuels in their use.

Two of the large British supermarket groups have recently decided that after many years of trying, real Christmas Trees were too difficult or unprofitable for them to sell. They have decided instead to concentrate on selling artificial Christmas Trees and in the process their publicity machines are generating negative publicity on real Christmas Trees, which, unfortunately, some newspapers - and even environmental groups - are repeating.

The British Christmas Tree growers association (BCTGA), of which Christmas Tree Farm, Chesham, is a member has carried out an analysis of a number of artificial trees. The results were:

· All the plastic components were PVC including stands, needles, brackets and branch end plugs.

· All others including branches were steel wire.

· The wrapping around the base of the two smaller trees was Hessian sacking.

· The snow on the trees was polyurethane foam.

· Analysis by weight shows that one of the artificial trees is about 60% metal, whilst the others were 80% metal.

· Due to high levels of toxic emissions, PVC should never be incinerated for disposal.

· The use of twisted wire makes separation of the metal from the PVC virtually impossible.

For these reasons none of the plastic trees were found to be easily recyclable and it was concluded that artificial trees all end up in land-fill sites were they would not easily degrade.

Artificial trees will last five years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill!

The following is a sequence of photographs of Christmas Trees being planted on land that had previously grown Christmas Trees at Chesham in Buckinghamshire. The plantings took place in March 2005. We plant at least one Christmas Tree for every one we sell.