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real or artifical christmas trees

Top 10 Reasons to Buy a Real Christmas Tree

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real or artifical christmas trees

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is coming and kids young and old are looking forward to decking the halls with the spirit of Christmas, starting with the age old tradition of decorating a Christmas tree. Some of Santa’s elves may ponder the choice between selecting a live tree versus an artificial tree but here at Green Coast Rubbish we recommend keeping it real. Here are the top 10 reasons to buy a real Christmas tree this year:

  1. Bundle up your family and rock the experience of visiting a tree farm and choosing just the right tree for your home. Wander about to look for the Christmas tree that has that something special – whether it is the aroma, colour, height, breadth or Charlie Brownesque style. Be sure to measure your space before you make the drive or fitting your tree into the house could be interesting!
  2. Buying local supports the 450 Christmas tree growers in BC who produce approximately 900,000 Christmas trees annually creating jobs and economic benefits.
  3. Visit a Christmas tree lot run by a local charity to buy your real Christmas tree and support a great causes like Aunt Leah’s Place  or the Lynn Valley Lion’s Club.
  4. Buy a potted Christmas tree and you’ll have a new tree to plant in your yard in the Spring. Or rent one that can be returned and reused year after year!
  5. Christmas tree farms create oxygen and remove greenhouse gases from the air. In contrast, artificial trees create factory pollution and may travel thousands of kilometres to reach Canada from their country of origin, contributing to global warming.
  6. Artificial trees are usually made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC ) which contains phthalates (a type of plasticizer) which have been identified as potential health concerns.
  7. Live Christmas trees are biodegradable and recyclable. While artificial trees typically last 7 – 10 years, they are neither recyclable nor biodegradable and often end up in the landfill.
  8. Real Christmas tree recycling and composting options are readily available in local municipalities throughout Metro Vancouver and elsewhere.
  9. Composted real Christmas trees can be used as mulch for gardens and parks.
  10. What could be more traditional at Christmas than a gorgeous fragrant Canadian grown spruce or fir tree in your living room?

Plastics

Plastics: A Complex Issue

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Plastics can be found in every aspect of our lives, and its widespread use has changed us as a society. On one hand, it has allowed many products to be manufactured more quickly and inexpensively; on the other, the environmental repercussions have been significant.

The amount of waste produced from plastics has created many complex issues, including negatively impacting the health of our oceans. Tidal currents cause discarded plastics to collect in many areas, where they are consumed by fish, mammals, and birds — trickling down into every part of the food chain (including humans). Between 60-80% of all debris found in the water are plastic — there’s a floating mass in the Pacific Ocean approximately the size of Texas.  And because plastics are an extremely durable material, they can take decades to breakdown once they are disposed, meaning they just accumulate in our landfills. Since the 1950’s, over a billion tonnes of plastics have been thrown away. This number is almost incomprehensible to most of us.

Thankfully, things are slowly beginning to change. Advancements in plastics technology have made some forms of plastics biodegradable — allowing them to disintegrate when exposed to water, or sunlight. Recycling programs have expanded in many cities to include more options for processing.

More recently, innovative businesses like The Plastic Bank have developed, placing more value on plastics — in turn encouraging the collection, recycling, and reuse of more of these materials in developing countries. All these steps begin to address the issues of how to deal with the overabundance of plastics in our country, and throughout the world.

At Green Coast Rubbish we work together with the North Shore Recycling Drop-off Depot for soft as well as numbered plastics, and for blended plastics and PVC piping we utilize Blue Planet Recycling Ltd. In 2013, we helped keep over 2 tonnes of plastics from our landfills and oceans. We were happy to see that Vancouver has recently changed its blue box program in May 2014 to include clamshell packaging (and more).

There are many kinds of plastics, and the rules of what can and can’t be recycled can get confusing. The David Suzuki Foundation has an excellent list which explains the differences, and various types.

Though recycling is an excellent way to help keep more plastic waste out of our landfills, ultimately, being mindful at the point of sale is important too. Plastic items will be stamped with a number on the bottom (designating how & if that material can be recycled). If there is no number present, there is a good chance that item will end up in a landfill. Being informed about your purchases before you buy is the best way to ensure you’re choosing items that are good for you, while still being good to our environment. Reduce when you can. Reuse what you’re able. Recycle when it’s done. Our environment will thank you for it!