How to Dispose of a Christmas Tree…The Farmer’s Way
When the carols have been sung, the eggnog has been drunk, the bells have been jingled, and the presents unwrapped, you might be ready to move on from the holiday season and get your life back to normal. This means un-decorating and eventually getting rid of your tree. Instead of just tossing it in the trash though, why not get a little more use out of it and dispose of your Christmas tree the farmer’s way?
Christmas Trees By the Numbers
The Christmas Tree industry is booming! According to the National Christmas Tree Association (yes, that’s an actual thing), there are approximately 350 MILLION Christmas trees growing on tree farms throughout the U.S. and Canada, with 25-30 million of those trees being sold each year in the weeks leading up to Christmas. That’s a lot of trees! This is all great until it comes time to get rid of your tree. One tree, not so bad. But 30 million trees tend to complicate matters.
Christmas Tree Disposal Options
Regardless of the method you choose, it’s crucial to remove all decorations, tinsel, lights, and garland from your tree before getting rid of it. Not doing so can harm wildlife and the environment.
Trash it (Not Great)
All those trees need to be disposed of in some way after the holidays. Unfortunately, many people will leave them on the curb for the garbage truck. As long as the tree is out of your hair who cares, right? Well those trees aren’t actually doing any good if they end up in the landfill. They can be put to much better use as you will see below!
Recycle it (Better)
A good alternative to leaving your tree on the curb, is to cut it into manageable chunks and place the pieces in leaf and lawn bags to be properly recycled by the city. It takes a little more work but will have a much better environmental impact. And the city may even get some good use out of it.
Turn it into mulch (Great!)
Some cities may have Christmas tree collection services where you can either drop your tree off or get it picked up and they will run your tree through a wood chipper and re-purpose it into mulch. This is a good, environmentally friendly way to dispose of your tree.
If you have access to a wood chipper, you can even turn it into mulch for your own garden come springtime, and turn your Christmas tree into the gift that keeps on giving!
You can also use this mulch as a great carbon source in your compost pile!
Build Wildlife Habitat
If you live in the country, you can place your tree outside or add it to a brush pile so wildlife can use it as habitat. The tree won’t grow or come back to life, but it may provide shelter for squirrels, rabbits, and birds. Then you can just let nature take its course and the tree will decompose naturally over time in your brush pile.
Feed Your Animals (!)
If you live on a farm, your animals will love to snack on your Christmas tree! Goats especially will go crazy over it, and other animals like llamas, alpacas, sheep, and even pigs will enjoy it as well. They’ll eat the needles, branches, and even the tree bark, and chickens will also have fun scratching around through the pine needles.
There are several health benefits to feeding your livestock pine needles as well. It is well-documented that conifers are effective in preventing intestinal worms and some species of pine trees can even be used for de-worming purposes. (1)
Pine needles may also promote a healthy digestive tract. According to the Food & Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region, pine needles can help treat loose stools in goats and cattle, and many pine-needle containing digestive supplements are already on the market.
As I previously mentioned, if you plan to feed your tree to your farm animals, make sure to remove ALL decorations, tinsel, and garland as they can be very harmful. Also, do not feed your tree to your animals if it has been treated with pesticides or has been flocked. (Sprayed with fake snow.)
Can Your Christmas Tree Be Used For Firewood?
It depends. First, you can only burn your tree if you are in an area that allows outdoor fires. If you can, then you should cut your tree into smaller logs and kindling and let it dry out completely. This may take several months. When it is finished drying, only burn it in an outdoor fire pit or in a bonfire.
DON’T BURN WOOD FROM A CHRISTMAS TREE IN AN INDOOR FIREPLACE. AS THE SAP BURNS, IT CAN CAUSE A BUILDUP OF STICKY RESIDUE AND LEAD TO A CHIMNEY FIRE!
Conclusion
I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday as we did. I’m especially glad you are researching a conscientious way to dispose of your Christmas tree. I hope this article has helped in your quest and if you have any other creative ways to dispose of a Christmas tree I’d love to here them!
Make sure to reach out below for any questions or comments, and good luck with your Christmas tree!
Happy Holidays!
Cody
Thistle Downs Farm