Real or artificial Christmas tree – Which one is better for the environment?

By Elizabeth Weise

The turkey has been finished, the Thanksgiving plates have been cleaned, and many Americans have turned their attention to Christmas, which brings a conundrum for some: The Christmas tree.

For people who want to help the planet during the holidays, the Christmas tree brings an interesting dilemma. Should you buy a fresh-cut, real tree? Or an artificial one?

There are pros and cons for each option, but first a little background. Data shows that Americans favor artificial trees. A 2023 survey by data company Statista found that 70% of American households planned to put up a Christmas tree. According to the survey, 24% planned to buy a real Christmas tree while 46% were opting for an artificial one.

It's not perfectly clear just what the breakdown in part because an increasing number of people have two or more Christmas trees, one fresh and others artificial.

"I think the growth in the artificial tree industry has primarily been in the purchase of second trees," said Mac harman, CEO of Balsam Hill, one of the nation's larger faux Christmas tree companies.

A single tree of either type represents a fairly small amount of carbon dioxide in the grand scheme of things. Even the most pessimistic assessments suggest an artificial Christmas tree used for just one year produces about 40 pounds of global warming gases while a natural tree is about 17 pounds. That's according to a life cycle assessment of Christmas trees by WAP Sustainability Consulting done in 2018. (The comparison changes based on how many years you use the artificial tree.)

For context, a one-way plane trip from Chicago to New York can release more than 314 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization carbon emissions calculator.

But, of the two options, what's best for the planet? Here's what to know.

Are real Christmas trees better for the planet?

Fresh-cut Christmas trees have the advantage of absorbing carbon dioxide while they're growing and keeping land in production. While it's true that they are cut down, the land they're grown on is typically scrub land not useful for growing crops. For each tree that is harvested, growers plant at least one new tree, according to the Real Christmas Tree Board, which represents tree growers.

Fresh-cut Christmas trees are 100% recyclable unless they have been covered with chemical flocking.

While growing, the trees also provide important habitat for birds and mammals in addition to stabilizing soil, protecting water sources and emitting oxygen.

How you dispose of your fresh Christmas tree matters. They can be sent to landfill, turned into mulch, burned or even sunk into lakes to provide fish habitat.

"The fresh cut tree could be thrown in the corner of your yard to provide habitat for ground-nesting birds while it slowly decomposes," said Beverly Law, an emeritus professor of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Mulching is the most ecologically beneficial way to dispose of a Christmas tree, said Bill Lindberg, a Christmas Tree Educator with the Michigan State University Extension. "Recycle it, mulch it, get it chipped up. It can be a soil improver."

Check to see if your local garbage company or a nonprofit does this. In Georgia they've been running a Bring One For the Chipper program for more than three decades, diverting over 6 million trees from landfills.

One major downside to real trees: If you don't know where the tree was grown, it might have been cut down and transported a long distance, which generates emissions.

The bottom line: If you get a real tree, try to dispose of it in an eco-friendly way, including using a mulching service.

Are artificial Christmas trees better for the planet?

From a climate perspective, an artificial Christmas tree has some challenges, in theory.

They're typically made from plastic derived from petroleum and the majority come from China, meaning they are transported thousands of miles in container ships, adding to their net carbon cost.

They're also not recyclable, meaning when they're no longer wanted they must be disposed of in landfills rather than turned into mulch as real trees can be.

That said, a life cycle analysis published in 2018 found that if an artificial Christmas tree is used for at least five years before being discarded, the overall environmental impact compared with a fresh tree was the same. (That study was commissioned by the American Christmas Tree Association, which represents the artificial Christmas tree industry.)

The analysis found that the more years an artificial tree is used, the lower its carbon impact. The break-even point, when the greenhouse gas emissions of an artificial tree become about equivalent to a natural tree, comes at about the five-year mark.

However, a group in Canada published an analysis in 2009 that suggested the tipping point would not come until the artificial tree was 20 years old. The company that did the analysis no longer exists so it wasn't possible to get more up-to-date numbers from them.

The most eco-friendly way to have an artificial Christmas tree is to get a second-hand one from someone who would otherwise send theirs to landfill. They're often discarded because the pre-strung lights have stopped working. Buying new lights (especially if they're low-energy LEDs) and stringing them on the tree can result in many more years of use, keeping an artificial tree out of landfill and lowering the overall carbon cost of that particular purchase.

The bottom line: If you get an artificial tree, use it again and again. It becomes more eco-friendly every year it stays out of landfills.