A Real Christmas Tree Does More Than Spruce Up Your House

Real Christmas trees are also the best environmental choice. A real tree can be recycled after its stay in your living room, chipped down to make superior mulch, while an artificial tree will eventually end up in a landfill where it will take hundreds of years to decompose. While people like to talk about buying an artificial tree and using it for 20 to 30 years, the reality is that the the average life span of an artificial tree is only six years! This is a whole lot of fake trees cluttering up our already crowded landfills! Many muncipalities provide an annual used Christmas tree chipping service.

Besides having your Christmas tree turned into compost when you're done with it, you can also recycle your natural tree in other ways. The Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario suggest:

• Placing your Christmas tree in your yard to provide winter shelter for birds. (You can even re-decorate the tree with bird treats, such as orange slices or suet balls stuffed with sunflower seeds!)
• Stripping fir tree foliage from the branches and snipping it into small pieces. These can be used to stuff aromatic fir needle pillows for the sofa or bedroom, or to create fragrant sachets for dresser drawers.
• Stacking used Christmas tree in forest areas to provide shelter for rabbits and other small animals, or along beaches to provide effective sand and soil erosion barriers.

So choose a natural tree this Christmas. You'll not only fill your home with that wonderful Christmas tree fragrance, but be making the wise environmental choice!

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