Finding an eco-friendly Christmas tree

Transport distances and fertiliser make imported trees a drain on natural resources

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By Johanna Mannila
     
      Getting a Christmas tree is a serious business in Finland, and the reasons for one’s choice are defended zealously.
      Some are passionate supporters of the humble Finnish latvakuusi (basically the crown of a Picea abies or Norway spruce that has been cut down for use by the forest industry), while others want a more symmetrical cultivated silver fir (Abies alba, Abies procera) or Caucasian fir (Abies nordmanniana).
      Those with allergies or a bent for tidiness swear by the convenience and absence of falling needles of a plastic tree.
     
Eco-friendliness can also be one of the criteria for choosing a tree. It is a question of how much the acquisition of the tree consumes non-renewable and renewable resources.
      "It is easy to ascertain the ecological efficiency of a Christmas tree, particularly that of one of those "crown" spruces. This uses up precisely those natural resources that are consumed in bringing it from the forest to the point of sale. The longer the distance, the more it burdens the environment. Much the same goes for firs that have been cut down as part of forest management thinning programmes", says Eija Koski, a researcher in sustainable developement from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
     
For some years now, eco-consultant Michael Lettenmeier has been teaching Finnish companies how to calculate eco-efficiency, using such measures as Material Input Per Service , or MIPS (see attached article).
      For crown- or thinning firs that are delivered in small quantities to the point of sale, the key issue is the length of the distance transported.
      The distances with imported cultivated trees can be relatively long by comparison. If trees come in large consignments in containers on the back of a truck, then the significance of fossil fuel consumption (in this case diesel) is smaller.
      Let’s take some examples. It is around 100 kilometres as the crow flies from an Estonian tree-nursery to the Greater Helsinki area, at least 700 kilometres from Poland to the same destination, 900 kilometres from Denmark, and 1,300 from The Netherlands. Of course, trucks do not travel "as the crow flies".
      Seppo Hartikainen, from Tapio, the Finnish Forestry Development Centre, estimates that around 1.2 million Christmas trees of one kind or another will be carried into Finnish homes in an average year.
      The great majority are gathered from Finnish forests. Around 10% come from plantations producing Christmas trees for this market.
     
"It takes about ten years to produce a Christmas tree in Finland", says Hartikainen, who also grows his own trees.
      He explains that there is precious little required in the way of maintenance, but that new growth is cut back in the late winter and early spring, in order to ensure that the trees become symmetrical and that the branches are sturdy. "If you want particularly beautiful green needles that are also strong, then the tree can be given fertiliser in the couple of years before it is harvested."
      "Often the Finnish Christmas tree plantations are on former arable land or in areas under electricity pylons [and hence unsuited to full-sized forestry], and the use of fertiliser is negligible; in Central Europe, spreading fertiliser is more common", explains Hartikainen.
     
The share of imported Christmas trees has increased in recent years. According to Board of Customs statistics, the most significant countries of origin are Holland, Poland, Estonia, and Denmark.
      Plastic trees, meanwhile, are generally Chinese in origin.
      A plastic Christmas tree weighing a couple of kilos is not such a terribly bad thing from the natural resources perspective, if the tree is kept for several years, say Koski and Lettenmeier.
      "The consumption of oil is relatively modest, as the trees are imported in bulk by ship in containers, and seaborne transport consumes less by way of natural resources than trucks or aircraft do", explains Lettenmeier.
      "Then again, getting a new plastic tree every year is hardly a very eco-efficient way to go", adds Koski pointedly.
     
Demand for plastic Christmas trees fluctuates somewhat, and it would appear to depend whom one asks.
      The supermarkets and Citymarkets of the K retail chain have shipped in 9,000 Chinese plastic trees measuring around 210 centimetres in height, and a quantity of smaller trees, discloses Kesko purchasing manager Marjut Laukkanen. "The figure has remained pretty much the same from one year to the next. A surprising number of plastic trees find their way into public areas such as offices and the like."
      At Etola, a company specialising in the import, manufacture, and marketing of rubber and plastic items for industry and consumers, demand for plastic trees has increased in their sixteen retail outlets. "We bought in more than 600 plastic Christmas trees from China. The figure has increased every year", says buyer Ulla Talsi. "The popularity of plastic evergreen decorations [often with fairy lights] has increased enormously."
     
The discount warehouse chain Tokmanni, which runs 26 outlets in Eastern Finland, has ordered 500 plastic trees. According to purchasing manager Minna Kuntsi, the numbers have been slipping of late. Previously they would have ordered thousands of the trees, but in the predominantly rural areas where the company operates, people tend to go and get their tree from their own forest or from that of their friends.
      To the west, at the Vapaavalinta chain of cut-price stores, chief buyer Susanna Suoranta  says the retailer has this year restricted its order to small plastic trees equipped with lights, intended mainly for table use.
      "Around these parts, people do not buy plastic trees in the way they used to. I’ve got one myself in the attic, but it doesn’t give you the real Christmas feeling. It should be a proper tree", says Suoranta.
      Anne Alamäki from the Stockmann department store chain says that the company - which most would see as an up-market retailer - ordered only around a hundred 2-metre plastic Christmas trees this year.
      "We have found that demand for plastic trees has collapsed, but on the other hand there is a huge call for them at our stores in Moscow, Tallinn, and Riga."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.12.2004

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: Special Christmas trees still rare in Finnish homes
 Tree prices determined by point of sale
 BACKGROUND: Calculating the MIPS of your Christmas tree

JOHANNA MANNILA / Helsingin Sanomat
johanna.mannila@hs.fi