The environmental impact of Christmas Trees...which option is the best?

The annual zero waste Christmas debate: which is better, real trees vs fake trees? Let's dive into it! If you're looking for more ways to celebrate a low waste Christmas besides fake trees vs real trees, check out more of my zero waste holiday content below!

Videos mentioned/recommended:

Timestamps:
00:00 - Don't stress the waste too much!
1:07 - My preliminary rankings
1:59 - Get a fake tree secondhand
2:52 - Why real trees are better
7:54 - Disposing of Christmas trees
8:47 - Getting a new artificial tree
11:14 - The final rankings
12:09 - Bloopers

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[MichaelSmith-fjdi]

If you already have a fake tree, using that is going to be your most sustainable option. Keep using it if it’s still good to use. That needs to be stated. Using what you already have is always the most sustainable option. Our family has a fake Christmas tree that we got many years ago, so we’ll be using that again.

[pcoristi]

For many years I had a twig tree. Basically, I would go out into a wooded area, or along a river or creek, and collect downed branches big and small. Then I'd go home and wire them together and put them into a stand.

The stand was often an overturned old cardboard box weighed down with whatever was handy (a few old bricks, rocks or a mound of the plastic bags we used to get at the grocery store). I'd
make a hole and stuff in the branches -- sometimes using string and thumbtacks to anchor them to nearby walls. A corner spot often helped prop up the branches.

I would then make all sorts of decorations --
Popcorn strings, paper chains, even tin spirals cut from empty food cans -- shiney but beware the sharp edges!

The last few years we've hosted my in-laws and they enjoy a real tree. Because we live very close to a large wooded area we go out and harvest a tree. Sometimes we take the top of a larger coniferous tree cuz the tree can survive that.

At the end of the season I drag it back to where we got it -- where it again becomes a
vital part of the local ecosystem.

Did you know that downed and rotting trees hold moisture? This moisture can help the surrounding area from drying out in the warmer summer months as well as being a home to insects, lichen, moss and mushrooms 🎄🌲🦟🐛🕷🍄

[caterinarossi]

My family has a fake tree, we used it for at least 20 years and is still going strong. We store it well, take care of it and I love it❤

[karinhart]

We used to get a real tree every year from the lot when I was a kid. Then about 1970 my family decided to get a live tree which we decorated outside in our screened in patio. Then we planted it in the yard where my mom had already wanted to plant a tree. Later my mom wanted a Xmas tree inside so we helped her research what size she had space to store and got her a much smaller tree that sat on a table. I think we got it from someone in her church who didn’t want to pay for shipping when they moved out of area. She had that nice little fake tree for 30+ years. When she died we passed it on to one of the neighbor kids that was moving into their 1st apt apartment and wanted a small tree just like hers. Personally, I don’t have a tree at my house but enjoy the tree at my sister’s.

[AluraEmbrey]

I got my fake tree from my local buy nothing group. Free and keeps something out of the landfill. 😊

[oliv]

These days my husband and I don’t have a tree at all, I just decorate with a few festive items around the place. But I have lots of fond memories of having a real Xmas tree growing up. One year we went into the woods behind our home and my sister and I convinced our dad to chop down a small pine tree and boy was that a very “Charlie brown” scraggly type of tree, but we loved it!! 🎄

[KeliOConnor]

I decorated a plant I had for several years until going through my mom’s stuff and taking her lighted table top artificial tree. I can’t wait to use it instead of throwing a string of fairy lights I scored from my 2019 wedding on the ficus 😂

[Sryker]

I grew up in WA State where Christmas tree farms are abundant. Every year we went to the local u-cut tree farm and to get our tree. It's similar experience to going to a pumpkin patch in fall. The tree farm we went to had several sections of different tree varieties. You could pick from douglas, noble, spruce and several other varieties. You could see the samplings and you tree interspersed with the harvestable trees. stumps usually had 2-3 samplings growing nearby. These operations were always family owned and operated by locals and not commercial enterprises.

[jihaeugh]

Thanks for making this video! I liked how you went into depth on each option and its impacts. Hopefully it helps people not make the same mistakes I did when buying my first tree. I got mine before starting on my sustainability journey, and it's the absolute worst tree situation you could have - cheap artificial flocked tree from Walmart. I kick myself every year when I take it out both because the waste and the fact I don't even like how it looks anymore. I'll be using it forever though, because I don't think anyone wants such a low quality sparse tree 😭 And I'd rather it get use than sit at a secondhand store for the season to then be thrown out.

[-kathryn]

Got my fake Christmas tree in 2018, so this'll be it's 6th year in use. I do plan to buy lights if it fails but so far it's been working fine for my family. Water is scarce in my area so I can't do live trees as easily. I admire your tree knowledge, thanks.

[katisk]

My grandma has a garden with various trees and plants, so when christmas comes, she cuts a few branches from a coniferous tree in her garden, puts it in a vase, and decorates it ✨️

[JFrigault]

If we did not have allergies to Pine needles, we might’ve gotten a real one; but we bought a quality fake tree to re-use for years to come

[CreativeRedundancy]

Listening Emma I “dig” it. I per”fur” your quick talk here. Just to add consider avoid using tinsel when possible and reuse any part of either real or fake tree. Like you’ve said landfill should be last option.

[dinosaur]

The live ones that get to big can also be used in people's yards that want large trees in landscaping but don't want to wait

[sustainablegremlin]

The town I grew up in had a day (or maybe a few days) after New Year's Eve where they would go around and pick up everybody's trees. You just had to leave it out on the curb. Not sure what they did with them, but since it was separate from trash pickup they probably weren't going to the landfill. Might be worth looking into for those who have real ones, if your town does that too!

As far as disposing of fake ones, FB marketplace is the best! If you put it up for free, you'll be making somebody very happy and you're almost guaranteed to get rid of it fast.

[katebeemakes]

We got our fake tree from my partner’s workplace for free as it was brand new but about to be thrown out. It has lights built in and is small, so it’s easy to store. We’ve had it for 8 years and it’s still going strong!

When its no longer usable (which I hope won’t be for a few decades) I might replace it with a bonsai.

[Jennifer-ib]

I love live trees. We have a ceramic tree that my grandmother made. We put it up every year. If you want a real one, get a potted one and replant it or put it on your patio.
I will not kill a 🌲.
🎉 Happy vegan thanksgiving!

[josephhughes]

Such a great in-depth vid on a topic that’s often hard to research! I agree that trees aren’t essential at home, we nearly all have one in the centre of our towns that’s way bigger than what we can have at home, we should be spending more time in those spaces too.

Also "retired Christmas tree" 🤣 why am I picturing a Christmas tree on a porch with a rocking chair 🤣

[peachblob]

We have a fake tree that my great grandma bought like over 20, maybe 30, years ago, and I love that tree. My mom's been talking about wanting a new one the last couple years because it's thinner and scragglier than it used to be because of the little plastic needles falling out over the years, but it always ends up looking pretty after we decorate it anyways.

[IAmSherry]

This was really interesting. I was surprised how wrong I was about real trees and how wrong I was about fake trees! I wish I had an option here in very rural Kentucky for a living tree That doesn't exist here.