A second life in the forest: Christmas tree doesn't have to end up in a bin

A festively decorated Nordmann fir shines in many living rooms on Christmas Eve. In the New Year at the latest, the trees will spoil the cityscape before they are finally burned. There is another way.

Shortly before Christmas Eve at the latest, many German households go on the hunt for a Christmas tree. Most of the trees sold in Germany, however, come from plantations that are fertilized and sprayed with pesticides. They end up in the garbage in the New Year at the latest and are then burned – this emits tons of CO2. A startup from Berlin therefore delivers its customers Christmas trees in pots to their door, picks them up after the holidays and then plants them again in a forest in Brandenburg.

Buyers can choose from three sizes. "Our customers think the idea that the tree is not thrown away but planted again after Christmas is great. It gives it a second life in the forest, where it can continue to store carbon," says Milan Hänsel from Wundertree ntv.de. The company, which was founded last year, also plants a deciduous tree with every Nordmann fir bought.

Buying a Wundertree tree already has a better CO2 balance than a regular fir tree from the hardware store. They have to be planted, cared for, prepared and transported. According to Hänsel, this alone creates around five kilos of CO2. With the incineration there is then a total of 10 kilos of CO2. "We save these 10 kilos. And by planting not only the fir, but also another deciduous tree, we ensure that even more carbon can be stored in the long term," says Hänsel.

Sales are also increasing on the Internet

A medium-sized Christmas tree between 140 and 160 centimeters costs 139 euros at Wundertree. Delivery and collection in an e-car included. The startup now employs four people, eight drivers and a number of helpers who prepare the deliveries. The fir trees have been available in the online shop since the beginning of November. The total of 1500 trees are all sold out on the weekend before Christmas Eve. For comparison: a regular Nordmann fir costs an average of around 70 euros.

The increasing demand for fair and ecological Christmas trees is also confirmed by a survey by the German Forest Protection Association. According to this, around 30 percent of the trees are now bought directly from farms, and another 30 percent in street stores. And sales are also increasing on the Internet: at least 11 percent stated in a survey by the digital association Bitkom that they want to order their tree on the Internet. 10 to 12 percent would buy their tree in a pot this year – like Wundertree customers.

Rudolf Fenner from the nature conservation organization Robin Wood recommends that if Christmas trees are already there, then preferably from forest companies or Christmas tree cultures that are managed according to clear, ecologically oriented rules and that are also checked by an independent body exposure to pesticide residues in your own four walls.

Christmas trees are also following a trend

With the increasing interest, according to Robin Wood, the offer has also increased in recent years. While there were 100 sales points nationwide for the first time six years ago, there are now more than 800. The companies that grow organically certified Christmas trees have also doubled in this period. The nature conservation organization still estimates the market share of organic Christmas trees to be at best 0.5 percent.

That doesn't seem to deter DIY stores like Obi, Bauhaus and Toom, because they too sell organically grown trees. Toom has been offering fair trade Nordmann firs from Denmark and the Sauerland for three years. Behind the "Fair Tree" label is the Danish Fair Trees Foundation, which advocates fair working conditions during the harvest of the fir tree. In addition, according to Toom, with the sale of each Nordmann fir, part of the turnover goes to social projects in Georgia, where 80 percent of the seeds of all Nordmann firs are harvested.

With a market share of 80 percent, the classic Nordmann fir remains the ultimate Christmas tree. But they are also subject to trends, says Hansel. In the 1960s the noble fir was in demand, in the 1970s the spruce and since the 1980s the Nordmann fir. Why shouldn't the concept of "Christmas tree in a pot" also prevail?