The table lists real trees’ environmental bona fides: all-natural, a farm-raised agricultural crop, 100 percent recyclable, no lead, no PVCs, no chemicals. The plastic version, well, call it Attack of the Killer Christmas Trees. Petroleum product. Lead. PVC. Dioxin. Can’t be recycled. Not biodegradable. “There’s so much confusing information out there. Consumers are told so many weird things, misleading things,” spokesman Rick Dungey said. “That’s why we went with the chart, point by point.
Our hope is that once people see a simple, straightforward comparison, they’ll say, ‘Now it makes sense.’” Sales of real trees continue to outstrip the manufactured trees. Last year Americans bought 28.6 million real trees, with a retail value of $1.2 billion. By contrast, they bought 9.3 million artificials, for $631 million. Of course, you buy a real tree every year; you keep an artificial tree for years. And consumers have a third option: no tree at all.
The mean purchase price last year of a real tree was $40.50; the artificial version, $68. “In the U.S. alone there’s an estimated 450 million trees currently being grown by farmers. They wouldn’t exist if they were not planted by Christmas tree farmers,” Dungey said. The growers like to point out that Christmas trees absorb carbon dioxide and other gases. Nationwide, trees produce the daily oxygen requirement for 9 million. They stabilize soil, protect water supplies and shelter wildlife.
Maybe Christmas trees should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the next time around.