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These are different from potted or “pot pressed” trees in which the root system is pruned, which lessens the chance of survival. The plant is more stable and due to specially designed holes in the pot it stays cooler and has more consistent root temperatures. Pot-grown trees are grown from seed in pots that are then plunged into the ground which – the growers claim – provides a number of benefits.
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The UK’s largest garden retailer, Wyevale Garden Centres, is expecting to sell a record 20,000 pot-grown Nordmann fir trees in three different sizes this year following double digit-sales growth in the last five years – including 20% in the last year alone. Pot-grown trees – which can be planted out in the garden when Christmas is over or re-potted and used again year after year – are rising in popularity, according to retailers. The advice is if you already have an artificial tree, keep it and keep using it – but if it becomes a little bedraggled and artificial is still your thing – opt for a second hand one in order for the plastic to be reused not dumped and to keep the carbon footprint down. Most fake trees are made of PVC – a plastic which is notoriously difficult if not impossible to get recycled because it requires specialist equipment. When it comes to disposing of your artificial tree, there are more negative impacts – even if you have kept it 10 years or more. Some farms offer you the chance to cut your own tree, as does the National Trust. “Growing them in the UK reduces the carbon footprint of importation and you also get a fresher tree because it can be cut three weeks later,” says Kenny.
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By reducing the emissions from transporting trees, and recycling them by chipping, real Christmas trees can become climate positive – creating an environment beneficial to removing carbon from the atmosphere.
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Kenny plants more trees than are cut down each year. Producers say growing trees for the Christmas market can have a positive environmental impact. When buying a real tree, Friends of the Earth advise to look for one that is locally produced, or at least grown in the UK with a FSC certification to avoid emissions from transporting and importing. But a 6.5ft tall real tree could result in a carbon footprint of 16kg CO2 if it ends up in landfill because the tree decomposes and produces methane gas – which is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Most local authorities now offer a collection service for real trees which they shred and use on gardens and parks – the greenest way to dispose of your real tree.Ī real tree that is recycled – by chipping – or is kept growing in a pot or the garden, can have negligible or even negative emissions, according to Kazer. They are also often shipped long distances before arriving in the shop and then your home.Ī 6.5ft artificial tree has a carbon footprint equivalent to about 40kg of greenhouse gas emissions – which is more than twice that of a real tree that ends its life in landfill and more than 10 times that of a real tree which is burnt. Another quarter is created by the industrial emissions produced when the tree is made. It is the manufacture of the plastic tree, from oil, which creates most of its carbon footprint around two thirds, according to Dr John Kazer of the Carbon Trust.