For the last few weeks, your house has smelled like a forest -- yup, it's hard to beat a real, live Christmas tree. Even though you've had to deter your pets from scaling the branches by squirting them relentlessly with a water gun, it's been worth the extra effort for a little slice of holiday happiness. Before you know it, the time will come when your admiring eyes will become hyper scrutinizing and you'll realize that the tree has got to go since its pesky, sappy needles are gooing up your floor. Where should it go, though? An estimated 500,000 acres of land in the U.S. is devoted to growing Christmas trees and the National Christmas Tree Association says that from 30,000,000 to 35,000,000 of them are cut and sold each December. That makes for an insane volume of trees that could potentially end up on the curb, but it's not going to come to that. Nope. We humans are a lot smarter and more practical than that.
Remarkably, 93% of those Christmas memories are actually recycled through municipal programs and thanks to their inherent biodegradability, they have various beneficial applications. Energy generation is among the most popular Christmas tree repurposing choices -- Burlington, Vermont creates electricity for area power companies and Packaging Corporation of America collects trees from Tomahawk, Wisconsin citizens which are used as a boiler fuel to power their pulp and paper mill plant. Of course, when it comes down to the question of what to do with your Christmas tree beyond the ordinary, it turns out that there are quite a few additional ways to carry the season of giving well past the new year. Read on for oodles of recycling inspiration!
What YOU Can Do To Recycle Your Tree At The End Of The Season:
1) Zoo Berlin's Ragnar Kuehne claims that for the last several years, elephants, sheep, camels and deer around Germany have been indulging in a 5 Christmas-tree-per animal snicky-snack, which helps aid their digestion and metabolism. Contact your local zoo and see if they will do the same in your city.
2) Plan wayyyy ahead for next year by whittling the wood into various different children's toys and practical household items that you can wrap up and give as gifts.
3) Strip the branches off your spent tree and disperse them in the far corners of your property so they can be utilized by wildlife as a form of shelter from the cold weather -- this is especially helpful for urban critters that are competing with constantly escalating development. Those who live on larger acreage might want to consider asking neighbors for their trees so that they can build sizable brush piles for wildlife nesting.
4) Reserve the remainder of the tree for firewood and kindling to offset your heating expenses this winter or use varying sized pieces of the wood as an ornamental touch in your springtime garden.
5) Consider weaving a rustic looking arbor or natural fence support for your spring plants with some of the longer Christmas tree branches or strip them, dry them out and use them to stake your tomato and cucumber plants.
6) Use the trunk and branch stubs as a potted household plant hanger to display your greenery on or cat owners can turn the same raw product into a perch for their outdoor feline prowlers.
7) Rent a chipper and create natural mulch from your Christmas tree or just strip the pine needles off and use them around the perimeter of your acid-loving landscape materials. Many municipalities also have drop-off zones where you can recycle your tree and return home with as much pre-shredded mulch as you like. This recycled garden helper not only maintains moisture in the ground, it also prevents many airborne weed seeds from taking root and limits soil erosion.
8) Create an earthy scented winter potpourri mixture with pine needles, cloves, cinnamon sticks and dried orange slices or tuck individual bits of greenery inside hand stitched sachets to offer a fragrant touch to clothing.
9) Check with your state's Department of Natural Resources to find out if they have a shoreline, river, ocean or lake erosion prevention program in place -- if so, drop off your tree to help the cause.
10) Anchor your tree in your backyard and use it as a winter feeding station for birds and other wildlife. In addition to being a decorative addition to your property, you can transform it into an edible wonderland by adorning it with popcorn, pinecones covered in peanut butter and seeds, orange slices, suet cakes, apples and bird feeders laden with sunflower seeds.
Patti White
said on January 09, 2010