- There are a variety of uses for Christmas trees that go unsold
- They can be turned into mulch, are sent to farms for livestock
- They also can be sent to beaches to help replenish dunes, fed to goats or even used to help improve fish habitats
A lot of people have probably already gotten their Christmas trees, or about to get them, and as we get closer to Christmas there will probably be a lot less trees to choose from. But there will always be some trees that don’t get sold during the holidays, which does seem like a waste. Well, did you ever wonder what happens to all those trees?
Well, according to Rocco Malanga, the owner of Cedar Grove Christmas Trees in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, a lot of those unused trees wind up getting chopped up for mulch, although some go to farms for livestock. Still, Malanga notes, “But if we've done our job correctly, there's not a lot that we have to deal with."
But those aren’t the only uses for unused Christmas trees. Some trees actually go to the beach to help areas that suffered erosion, some of which were the result of hurricanes. The trees can be fastened together and held down to trap sand. Dry trees can also break down to help create sand dunes, which will protect areas during storms because they absorb the impact of winds and waves.
Trees are also used to help restore coastal marshes, and in Illinois they’ve been used to create nesting structures for endangered herons. They’ve also been fed to goats in San Francisco, and even dropped in lakes in South Dakota to improve fish habitats.
Source: USA Today