Artificial Christmas Tree Facts

Many families compare real and artificial Christmas trees when deciding what is best for their home. Artificial trees may seem convenient, but they are typically made from plastic and metal, often imported from overseas, and eventually end up in a landfill.

At Brown’s Tree Farm, we believe real Christmas trees offer a more traditional, renewable, and meaningful way to celebrate the season. The facts below help explain why many families continue to choose a farm-grown real Christmas tree.

• Most FAKE Christmas Trees (85%) in the U.S. are imported from China. Almost 10 Million FAKE Christmas Trees were sold worldwide in 2003. The U.S. Commerce Dept. tracks the Import of FAKE Christmas Trees.
• Have you ever wondered what the factories are like where FAKE Christmas Trees are made? As noted in the Washington Post, “On the concrete floors of Zhang’s Shuitou Company factory, migrant workers, most earning about $100 a month, squat in front of hissing machinery as they melt chips into moldable plastic…”
• Most FAKE Christmas Trees are made of metals and plastics. The plastic material, typically PVC, can be a potential source of hazardous lead. Read a warning about them from the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition.
• The potential for lead poisoning is great enough that FAKE Christmas Trees made in China are required by California Prop 65 to have a warning label.
• Some FAKE Christmas Trees have a wooden center pole. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture placed a quarantine on FAKE Christmas Trees from China, which had a potentially harmful beetle in the center pole.
• Overloaded electrical outlets and faulty wires are the most common causes of holiday fires in residences – these are just as likely to affect FAKE Christmas Treesas REAL Christmas Trees.
• As mentioned before, most FAKE Christmas Trees are manufactured in China and contain PVC (polyvinyl chloride). In fact, FAKE Christmas Trees were recently added to the Center for Health, Environment & Justice’s list of household products containing PVC .
• According to the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition, the manufacture of PVC creates and disperses dioxins, which include the most toxic man-made chemical known. Released into air or water, dioxins enter the food chain, where they accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans, a potential risk for causing cancer, damaging immune functions and impairing children’s development. This issue is especially concerning due to China’s weak enforcement of environmental regulations.
• FAKE Christmas Trees are a petroleum-based product manufactured primarily in Chinese factories. The average family uses a FAKE Christmas Tree for only six to nine years before throwing it away, where it will remain in a landfill for centuries after disposal.

Note: The information above was provided by the National Christmas Tree Association. We would like to thank the NCTA for all of their research and support.