You do n’t require a calendar to order you when the holidays have ended — just take a facial expression out of doors to see if rows of skimpy , dried - out Christmas trees are lining the curb . Each twelvemonth , roughly33 million bouncy Christmas treesare purchased in North America , many of which terminate up rotting in landfills once the Modern twelvemonth arrives . But making our mean solar day jovial and smart is n’t the only thing a felled evergreen plant is good for . Here are some ways Christmas trees continue to dish out a purpose long after their decorations have been pack away .
1. THEY’RE USED AS LUMBER FOR HOMES.
Thetreethat ’s erected in Manhattan ’s Rockefeller Center each November is arguably the most iconic Christmas display there is . It ’s also one of the largest , reaching up to100 foot talland often weighingmore than 10 tons . That ’s a lot of lumber , and luckily , Habitat for Humanity makes trusted it ’s put to upright use . Every class since 2007 , Rockefeller Center has donated its tree diagram toHabit for Humanity Internationalafter direct it down on January 9 . From there , the gay behemoth ( usually a Norway Spruce ) is separate into division in the plaza before it ’s shipped to a mill in New Jersey for extra sawing . It ’s finally made into 2 - by-4 and 2 - by-6 beams used in construction projects around the country . Homes in Bridgeport , Connecticut , Morris , New Jersey , and Philadelphia all carry pieces of what was once the man ’s most celebrated Christmas tree diagram in their wall .
2. THEY’RE MADE INTO UNDERWATER ECOSYSTEMS.
If you were to walk along the bottom of Lake Havasu between Arizona and California long enough , you ’d finally come across the site of a Christmas tree necropolis . What may be a creepy scene to holiday fan is a lush utopia for fish — the branches of the spruces , firs , and true pine provide a hiding place from predators and attract nutrient for the fish to nibble on .
The875 - acre stilted reefresting on the lakebed consists of PVC pipe , cinder block , concrete sewer tube , brush , andthousands of Christmas treesweighed down with sandbags . Decades of decay plant life affair have build up a healthy layer of moss and alga around the non - degradable structure . This green finishing attracts insects , which in turn attract Pisces looking for a snack . The ending of the holiday season marks the debut of 500 fresh trees to the reef , each of which will take about five or six years to break down completely .
3. THEY’RE USED TO BUILD SAND DUNES.
pass a day on the beach in summertime and Christmas trees will likely be far from your intellect — but on at least one beach along the East Coast , there are G of abandon conifer forget in the sand . That ’s becauseBradley Beach , New Jerseydepends on recycled Christmas tree diagram to build its George Sand dunes . Discarded Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree are laid out on the beach and held in place between two parallel fence . Sand that foul up in from shoring gets fascinate in the branches , eventually pack into a full George Sand sand dune over the row of several seasons . Unlike piles that have been pushed together with dozer , sand dunes that are permit to make naturally over time provide a more static barrier against tempest surge . When the prison term is right , the town plants dune smoke to give the structure even more stability , with the vegetation’shairy rootsanchoring tree in the Baroness Dudevant .
4. THEY PROVIDE ENRICHMENT TO ZOO ANIMALS.
An elephant act as with a Christmas tree at a menagerie in Germany . Image credit : Odd Andersen // Getty Images
In the wild , many creature come across works lifetime that changes with the seasons . TheOakland Zooin California hop to simulate this seasonal variety in captivity with annual Christmas tree donations . Each year , a local Christmas tree lot hands over whatever ’s left of their inventory at the end of the season . The zoo ’s house physician are more than well-chosen to take the trees that others did n’t want — zebra crunch on the acerate leaf , squirrel monkeys sway from limb to branch , and otter play games of “ reek and seek ” with treats hide in the trees by zookeepers . Oakland ’s zoo is n’t the only one to take advantage of the surplus of tree at the end of year . TheStaten Island Zoo , theNorth Georgia Zoo , theLinton Zoological Gardens in the UKall accept tree contribution .
5. THEY HELP RESTORE MARSHLAND.
6. THEY’RE USED AS AN ENERGY SOURCE.
Christmas trees likely are n’t the substitute fuel reference of the future , but that has n’t stopped Burlington , Vermont from ringing every W of energy they can get from their seasonal haul . The Joseph C. McNeil Wood and Yard Waste Depot pull in hundreds of unwanted trees from households and Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree lot at the last of each holiday time of year . That constituent waste gets feed to a wood chipper , and part of the mulch that comes out is commit to the local world power plant where it ’s tossed into a boiler . The oestrus generated from the kettle evaporates pee into steam that ’s used to power the turbine in the plant ’s source . Each tree that ’s incinerate amounts to about 36 cent worth of DOE for the town .
TheMerry Mulch Projectisn’t able-bodied to produce enough fuel to keep the industrial plant running on 100 - percent Christmas tree diagram power ( for that , the boiler would need to be fed the equivalent of 100 Tree per minute ) , but luckily , Burlington uses other renewable resources likewind and waterto keep the city running throughout the class .
7. THEY’RE MADE INTO PATHS FOR HIKING TRAILS.
It ’s hard to go for a raise through Dunbar Cave State Park in Tennessee without trampling on ghost of Christmas past — all of the mulch used to cushion their trails is made from onetime Christmas trees . A thousand trees are mulched by the park as part of their annualTrees to Trailsprogram and laid along pathways by unpaid worker . According to theNational Christmas Tree Association , Friends of Dunbar Cave display board member David Boen said they get to Christmas trees exclusively because “ by definition they do n’t have any invasive mintage or seeds . ” In addition to making them easier to walk on , mulch also protects trails from damaging weewee run - off .
8. THEY’RE TRANSFORMED INTO ART.
Since2012 , creative person Michael Neff has installed a seasonal prowess project in New York City . “ The Suspended Forest ” start with a handful of leave Christmas trees hung illicitly beneath an flyover in Williamsburg . The most recent loop included40 floating treesharvested from pavement and tree lots after Christmas . They were on display in a storage warehouse in Queens through the month of January ( this fourth dimension around , Neff had really received permission to put them there ) . He hop to keep bringing the exhibit back to New York and potentially re - imagine it for dissimilar cities in the future .
9. THEY PROVIDE FREE MULCH TO GARDENERS.
If a Christmas tree diagram does n’t end up hanging in a storage warehouse , decomposing on a lakebed , or providing merry scenery for a landfill , it ’s most likely change state into mulch . mickle of town powderise their discarded Christmas tree for role inparks and public space , but San Diego does something a minuscule different with theirs . For decadesthe Miramar Greeneryhas ask over city house physician to cull up costless mulch and compost for utilization on secret property . After dropping off unwanted tree diagram at locations around township or dumping them on the check , families can visit the Greenery later in the year to accumulate the mulch they avail contribute to . In a exclusive year , the recycling program can make mulch out of nearly 1000 tree , shit the urban center ’s Christmas trees the gifts that keep on giving .
