How to choose an eco-friendly Christmas tree

With an ever-growing understanding on the fragile nature of mother earth, many people in the UK and across the world are putting their purchasing habits under greater scrutiny than ever before. This covers not only our food shops and the clothes that we buy but also at this time of year, the gifts and seasonal products that we buy for ourselves and others. One dilemma that we’re going to discuss here is that of the humble Christmas Tree.

Christmas trees are the ultimate way to embrace the festive spirit in your home, but it can be difficult to make a decision on which type to buy, especially when questions of waste and manufacturing resources are to be considered.

Artificial trees

As a rule of thumb if you already have an artificial Christmas tree then you should try and keep using it for as long as you possibly can. Fake plastic trees require mammoth amounts of energy to produce and eventually will need replacing which creates more waste to be dealt with. Where possible you should keep using or at least find another home for it using online selling sites like Gumtree, eBay and Facebook Marketplace before purchasing a new one.

Natural trees

If you’ve managed to find a home for your artificial tree, or this is the first time you’ve had a tree and you are craving the fresh pine smell that they give off then try and look out for one’s with an FSC label attached. This mean’s that it has been approved as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council. If you want to go one step further, then you can look out for a tree grown by the Soil Association which means it is totally organic and pesticide-free. Do bear in mind that you and the millions of other people buying only get one use out of a real Christmas tree and so sustainability is important.

After Christmas is over and the decorations come down you will need to think about how to dispose of your natural Christmas tree. You can take them to a waste recycling centre or tip where they will be shredded for use in parks and paths or composted.

Other options

An increasingly popular way to find a Christmas tree is to buy a potted Christmas tree with roots still intact. This means that with the right care you can use it again the following year which saves you money and has less of a hit on the environment. Another option for you is to source a Christmas tree on a rent-a-tree hire basis from a garden centre or plant nursery which will be potted and will be able to carry on growing once it is returned to where it came from.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state-of-the-art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.