To hate seeing half-dead Christmas trees dumped outside

I think in this situation I'd have a second set of decorations in non Christmassy colours and do a birthday tree. I've seen people do fun things with balloons on new year's trees and the like.

Read some News maybe? Take your mind off the trees?

This trees are grown specifically as a crop. You might as well talk about the number of wheat or vegetables killed.

It takes a lot longer than a year to grow a tree 😂 As a PP said they are decarbonising for the years they're around, plus the demand = more trees planted.

Artificial trees are much worse for the environment because of all the plastic, even if you keep them years. The production alone is terrible, plus they're all made in China and shipped for extra damage.

It's better for the environment to get a real tree than an artificial one, I researched it a few years back.

I'm just grateful that I've moved to an area that has a council collection! The last town we lived in (not UK) had a system where local charities collected them and you paid for it by buying a special stamped ribbon that you tied around the tree... but you could only get it at the local tourist office which is open for like 2 mornings a week, less between Christmas and new year. I'll never understand why they didn't let the local tree sellers sell them alongside the actual trees. Anyway we lived right in front of the forest and what would end up happening is that people who kissed the red ribbon thing would come up in the evening and just dump it about 5m into the forest... there was a big pile of them some years.

I find it a big hypocritical waste.
How many tres are killed for a purpose that most of the UK don’t believe in?
Why are we recycling every scrap of paper when we are throwing away giant trees after a few weeks of use?

I'm afraid this is why I have an artificial tree... There seems like there's a lot more thought-process involved in having a real one. From collection, installing, maintaining and disposing of.
Mine comes out of a box, slot the branches in, fluff it out and decorate. Then do the same in reverse a month later. Mine was £60 about 10 years ago.

@Turophilic I'd snap up the cornus if I was your neighbour 😆 the lower part of my garden is just above a small stream and it's squelchy at the best of times I usually call it the swamp

All right if you happen to like fake trees. Some of us really don’t. In any case, as per my pp, real trees do use up a lot of CO2 as they grow.

Yes, it does look sad, especially when January is typically so dreary anyway, but the trees are used as mulch, and real trees (grown as a crop much like any other) do use up a lot of CO2 while growing.

We have a small potted one outside the front door - on its 2nd year and I hope it will manage a 3rd, but the indoor tree is always real - I’d never want a fake one.
At least it will have had its moment of glory!

Real trees aren't being environmentally friendly as every year a tree is grown just to be discarded with weeks if not days, we have a good artificial tree that's been going strong for a decade, realistic looking and full, no need to keep buying.

@SpecduckularlyQuackers - I used some sticks from early spring prunings as plant supports last summer. I forgot to put a few of them in upside down.

The damned things rooted immediately and overtook what they were supposed to be supporting! Anyone need 4 lavatera and 3 cornus shrubs….

I’m a living cautionary tale. At least a Christmas tree is unlikely to burst enthusiastically back into life!

I saw some Christmas trees in the garden centre a few days ago. I told my husband that I felt sorry for them because they had missed their opportunity to be decorated. They made me feel sad for them because.

Ours go in the quail aviary for them to play hide and seek among.

Around here, small holders and farms ask for Christmas trees so that goats can play with them. Think that's lovely because something else gets enjoyment out of the old trees

My MIL has an ericaceous bed in her garden so I'm planning on shredding the smaller branches and giving her the mulch. For the rest I'm torn between a wood stack habitat versus using the trunk for an annual climber later in the year!

Are you mad?

A tradition in this country since Victoria and Albert and in Germany for much longer isn’t an example of a throwaway society.

@SpecduckularlyQuackers - if you’re doing the “protect tender plants” type stuff recommended in the article, bear in mind the branches will shed all their needles onto the soil. Great for ericaceous loving plants, less so for everything else.

We could, yes, now that we have outside space to do that, we might give that a go.

I was really sad to see my beautiful tree go this morning(collected by the local scouts) it’s really brought me a lot of joy this Christmas ❤️ And was the first real tree we’ve ever had! Our pre-lit Christmas trees will now stay in the loft, it’s a real tree for us every year 🎄

I feel exactly the same - it almost feels like they are sentient beings (I know this is ridiculous!), and even though every year my husband says they recycle them, it feels so selfish and wasteful to use them for literally 2-3 weeks and then bin them. We should find an alternative but I can't persuade him.

The issue with the pumpkins is that they attract vermin. Caught a one sitting inside the neighbour's through the day! They had left it out so long.

We have had ours for 10 years, still going strong!

We're going to have a go at a couple of these ideas this year https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/six-ways-to-recycle-your-christmas-tree/

I agree OP. TBH I also don’t like seeing discarded rotting pumpkins everywhere after Halloween.

Our tree is a fake pre lit one that used to belong to my late ILs.