Real vs. Fake Christmas Trees - Which is Greener?

Yesterday, I passed by a lot that was being prepared to sell Christmas trees. Yep, it's time to start thinking about them.

In my entire life, there have only been two Christmases where I haven't had a real tree. We couldn't afford one our first year married so we had this tiny little borrowed table top artificial Christmas tree. The next year, we bought a real tree, some lights, and a few ornaments. Problem was, we absentmindedly bought white strings of lights (see picture), and couldn't afford to buy any others. So we went with it. The other time we had an artificial tree was when we went to my in-laws in Arizona for Christmas so we just put up a borrowed artificial tree at our house.

But now, with all the greening I've been doing around here lately, I started to wonder. Which is greener? A real tree or an artificial tree? I did a little research, and I found that there are arguments for both sides out there. But I was only swayed by one of them.

Pro Real Christmas Tree

• Christmas trees are grown on tree farms - they are considered an agricultural product. They are sustainable, and for each tree that is cut, at least one more tree is planted.
  
• Tree farms are usually planted on soil that doesn't support other types of agriculture. 
  
• In the US there are about 1 million acres dedicated to tree farming. Each acre provides enough oxygen for 18 people. 
  
• Tree farms reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and help counter-balance this global warming thing we keep hearing about.
  
• Real trees are easily recycled*. Many communities offer curbside pick up in the weeks following Christmas and turn the trees into mulch.
  
• Every state in the U.S. grows Christmas trees. It is possible to get a tree that is locally grown.
• Unless you're allergic to them, real Christmas trees are better for your family's health once they are inside the home. Fake Christmas trees contain PVC.  "According to the Children's Health Environmental Coalition, the manufacture of PVC creates and disperses dioxins, which include the most toxic man-made chemical known. Released into air or water, dioxins enter the food chain, where they accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans, a potential risk for causing cancer, damaging immune functions and impairing children's development." (source - christmastree.org).
• Fake Christmas trees are not recyclable and will sit for hundreds of years in a landfill leaching PVC, lead and other contaminants into the soil.

Pro Fake Trees

• Fake trees are reusable. If taken care of properly, fake trees can last decades.
  
• No real trees are harmed in the making of an artificial tree.
  

That's about all there is for the pro fake. But there are artificial tree websites out there that can take those two facts and spin them into paragraphs of environmental benefits.

It's easy to conclude that I come down on the real tree side. The argument that no real trees are harmed in the making of an artificial tree makes no sense since real Christmas trees come from sustainable tree farms that are helpful to the environment.

And sure, a fake tree can be used for decades, but that's decades of chemicals and toxins floating around the air in your home, around your children and pets, that will ultimately end up in a landfill. Plus, they are usually made in some foreign country by factory workers who breath this stuff in constantly and get paid very little to do so. Then they need to be shipped half way around the world.

There are other pro/con reasons to have a fake Christmas tree - they are more cost effective, they don't shed needles, they can come pre-lit, etc. But for purely environmental reasons, real Christmas trees beat them hands down.

* If your community doesn't offer pick up of trees, you can go to the National Christmas Tree Association's website, input your zip code, and find out where you can take your tree for recycling.