Real vs. Artificial

Why You Should Pick a Real Christmas Tree

There are approximately 25-30 million real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. every year.

There are close to 350 million real Christmas trees currently growing on Christmas tree farms in the U.S. alone, all planted by farmers. These trees are grown as a harvestable crop.

Texas Christmas trees are grown by local farmers on Texas land that you visit to pick out your own tree.  According to the U.S. Commerce Department., 80 percent of artificial trees worldwide are manufactured in China.

Real Christmas trees are a renewable, recyclable resource. Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics and possible metal toxins such as lead.

There are more than 4,000 local Christmas tree recycling programs throughout the U.S. Find a recycling location by visiting www.earth911.com or your local city or county web site.

For every real Christmas tree harvested, one to three seedlings are planted the following spring.

There are about 350,000 acres in production for growing Christmas trees in the US, much of it preserving green space.

In Texas, many Christmas tree farms are situated on land that is not useful for other crops, providing a habitat for wildlife.

For more information on artificial trees, click here.