Introducing the Carbon Initiative with IWA Water Loss Specialist Group
Published on: 12 Feb 2025
Read moreThe UK’s National Tree Week celebrates the start of the tree-growing season when thousands of trees are planted by the country’s conservation sector, volunteer groups, and tree-lovers.
This week, and month to come, many people’s favourite tree will be the Christmas tree, probably a Nordmann fir or a Norway spruce. Clearly a tree that has been cut down for Christmas doesn’t support a tree planting campaign, so we’re delving into how we can support the campaign and in doing so have a more sustainable festive season.
Real vs Fake
If you’re a diehard real Christmas tree supporter you probably don’t need to know about artificial ones, but here are some sustainability stats from the Carbon Trust, to support your argument, which clearly demonstrate the argument against fake Christmas trees: "A two-metre artificial tree has a carbon footprint of around 40kg, more than ten times that of a real tree that’s disposed of after Christmas. In other words, you’d need to re-use an artificial tree 10 times to negate its carbon footprint, yet it’s estimated that fake trees are used only four times, regardless of improving quality.”
A Growing Industry
The position is set then against artificial Christmas trees, but how to support National Tree Week in a sustainable way. The answer lies in the Christmas tree rental industry.
This nascent rental industry grows thousands of Christmas trees which are potted up ready for buyers to take home. Simply pay a deposit then rent a tree for the festive period, afterwards returning it to the same Christmas tree farm where it will continue to grow and thrive ready for the following year. You can, in some cases, name your tree and rent it each year so you get to see it grow. The top tip for doing this is to find a grower as close to you as possible so that you don't have to pay big delivery costs or counteract the environmental benefits with your mileage if you collect it yourself. If you live in or near the Cotswolds, head to Winstones or if you’re in Cheshire try Greenies.