Green Living
Real, Faux or Living
Whether you choose silver or gold for your holiday decorations, use this information to make your Christmas tree ‘green.’
BY
Real, Faux or Living
PHOTOGRAPHY
iStockphoto/Achim Prill

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The age-old question of real versus faux when it comes to Christmas trees can leave your head aching long before you have imbibed too much holiday eggnog.

“The best thing to do is to get no tree at all; but most people are not willing to give up their Christmas tree, whether it is real or fake,” says Matt Riggs, outreach coordinator, Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) solid waste management district.

So whether you are a fan of faux or cannot live without the smell of fresh pine, there are a number of ways to have your tree and trim it, too.

Faux Tannenbaum
Many environmentalists cringe at the thought of purchasing artificial Christmas trees — about 85 percent of the trees are imported from China, Matt points out. The faux beauties are also made from PVC plastic, and lead is used in the process of making PVC. When you finally decide to get rid of the petroleum-based conifer, the only place for it to go is to a landfill, where it will stay for a long, long time.

But the sheer convenience factor of the trees has kept the industry booming. For the past three years, U.S. consumers reported buying approximately 9 million artificial trees annually, according to the market research firm Harris Interactive. And in 2006, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that $65 million worth of artificial Christmas trees were imported from China between January and August.

For die-hard artificial tree users, Matt says there are ways to make a more environmentally friendly purchase. First, buy local, or as local as possible. As with any product, the closer to home it is made, the less fuel is used in transport. American tree companies include Christmas in America LLC, Holiday Tree and Trim Co. and Classic Thymes Inc. Second, if you are going to use an artificial tree, use it for many years, and once you are done with it, pass it on to others in need of a good tree.
And while they may have made Charlie Brown scream in frustration, Matt says that aluminum trees are making a comeback and are relatively environmentally sound.

Cut Trees
Most of you may assume that real trees are the optimal environmental choice. One acre of trees produces enough oxygen a day for 18 people, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, based in Chesterfield, Mo. The 500,000 acres of Christmas trees grown in the United States is enough to help 9 million people breathe each day. But, Matt says, real trees don’t come without issues of their own.

When your tree is sparkling in your family room, it seems far from its roots as an agricultural product once treated with pesticides and herbicides. Because of this, organically grown trees are the best option, but the farms are few and far between.

If you can’t buy organic, Matt says to buy local, which means you should avoid the trees propped up in area parking lots because most of them are trucked in from the northern United States or Canada.

“In our area, there are more environmentally friendly options,” he says. “If I can buy something that is locally grown, it is going to be better than something that was grown in Canada with lots of pesticides then shipped thousands of miles.”

One of the best options Matt recommends is the Kansas City WildLands’ cedar tree harvest. Native to the state, eastern red cedars grow easily, and in some areas, they can even become invasive. To help maintain the native ecosystem, the group, in conjunction with the Johnson County Park and Recreation District, opens one county park one day a year for cutting or purchasing cut trees.

Jody Craig, public affairs director for MARC, says she cut a tree from the park last year. Although the trees aren’t the “typical triangular” shape of a pine, hers looked natural and lived in her house for almost a full month with little shedding.

“It was very fresh, and we were concerned because our daughters are picky with the trees, but everyone loved it,” she says. “It was a cool thing to do; it was good for the environment and a great deal and ended up being a wonderful tree.”

Living Trees
Living, or bag and burlap, trees are also an ecologically friendly alternative that is just beginning to crop up in the area. Living trees are purchased from a tree farm or nursery, decorated during the holidays then planted in your yard.

While this is a very environmentally friendly option, it is not the easiest to undertake, notes Lyle Irwin, owner of Colonial Nursery in Blue Springs. At Colonial, the trees are placed in a burlap sack in 20- to 25-gallon plastic containers. Lyle recommends purchasing them about two weeks before Christmas. The tree should be put in the garage to get acclimated to the home’s temperature then can stay only 10 to 15 days inside before it needs to be planted outside. Because the root ball is sizeable, the trees are typically 4 to 6 feet tall and cost between $12 and $15 per foot.

Lyle began selling living trees in 1972 and has sold upward of 100 trees a year. When sales began to lag a few years ago, he stopped offering the trees, but increasing customer requests spurred him to try again last year and he will continue to sell them in coming years. “People want something different, and they are trying to be conservative,” he says. “They would rather have a tree they can plant in their yard instead of throwing it away.”

Tree Disposal
Ten million Christmas trees find their way to the nation’s landfills at the beginning of each year, according to the Sierra Club’s website. But there are many ways to recycle trees and keep them from turning to trash.

Private companies and cities across the metro area recycle trees each year. The trees are typically turned into mulch or wood chips or thrown into local lakes as refuge and feeding areas for fish. To find a list of organizations, visit www.recyclespot.org.

The Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario website also offers tips for recycling trees. In wooded areas, Christmas trees can be placed in the backyard for sheltering small birds. After carefully removing tinsel, place orange slices, peanut butter on pinecones, and suet balls stuffed with sunflower seeds in the tree to attract birds. The foliage also can be stripped from the branches, cut into small pieces and used to create aromatics for potpourri or sachets for dresser drawers.