Are plastic Christmas trees the better choice for the environment?

The idea is a good one, in theory: You buy one plastic Christmas tree for life, and never again will an evergreen be chopped down in your name.

And yet plastic trees especially in the low-price segment only have a lifespan of a few years before they start to look old and are thrown away. While they don’t shed needles and aren’t a problem for people with allergies, plastic pines do appear to be losing their image as the more environmentally friendly choice.

Recent research in the UK has shown that Gen Z respondents and Millennials are more likely to select a real fir tree than their older Gen X and baby boomers counterparts. UK-based live tree seller B&Q said that close to two-thirds of people in older generations rely
on artificial trees.

Critics of the artificial Christmas tree say typical examples are made of composite materials that are almost impossible to separate for recycling, which leads to a large number of them ending up incinerated or on landfills. In 2019, studies by the Austrian environmental protection organisation Global 2000 found “substances of concern” in more than half of the artificial Christmas trees tested in Germany and Austria, which can be carcinogenic, increase the risk of infertility and have a negative hormonal effects. Microplastics and nanoplastics also pose a risk as they can enter heart tissue and the brain.

By comparison, natural Christmas trees are less harmful to the climate, since they remove CO2 from the atmosphere and can have a positive effect on the ecosystem when alive. They are also far faster to decompose.

How the tree was grown and transported makes a difference, however, says Germany’s Association of Natural Christmas Trees (VNWB).

Ideally it will be an organic tree as this allows insects and birds to thrive in the area. It should also be a tree that has grown in the region and hasn’t travelled hundreds of kilometres just to be in your living room.

Buying a potted tree that you can replant in the garden after Christmas is a nice idea, but unfortunately most potted trees are not meant to survive the trip into your home.

That’s because the conventional tree offered in a pot usually only has enough soil to keep the tree fresh a bit longer. The root, which normally reaches deep into the ground, is simply cut off to fit the tree into the small pot and into your home.

While a potted tree may look fresh a little longer, it’s very rare for the roots to keep growing afterwards.