For many people, Christmas is the most magical time of year. It’s a time when we celebrate traditions, family, and feeling good about life.
A lot of these traditions are based on consumerism, which does come with a lot of issues.
Just think about the unnecessary paper usage that comes from wrapping presents.
Christmas trees are another tradition that tends to create waste, notably the netting that trees come wrapped in.
What is Christmas Tree Netting Made From?
Christmas tree netting is the string or netting that Christmas trees are held in for transportation.
They make it easier to transport trees so that they’re less bulky.
This allows families to easily transport a tree home using only their car, or for companies to transport trees to a location to sell them.
It also allows individual people to carry a tree from place to place without any major issues.
This netting can be made from a variety of different materials. Nylon is common, due to how easy it is to produce.
However, using twine is also one of the most common materials to use in Christmas tree netting.
However, there are other materials in use, and depending on who is selling the trees you will likely see different materials used.
Are Christmas Tree Nets Recyclable?
The short answer to whether Christmas tree nets are recyclable is that it depends on what material the nets are made from.
Several materials can be recycled:
- Twine, which is made from polypropylene
- Nylon, which is only recyclable through various take back programs. Otherwise, it can’t be recycled.
Some nets are biodegradable, rather than recyclable.
This does have its own distinction and requires that these materials be separated from your recyclable materials.
These nets that are biodegradable tend to be special blends of materials, which are manufactured with their decomposition in mind.
What Does it Mean to Be Biodegradable?
A lot of people tend to confuse biodegradable products with recyclable products.
This is because they are both ways of throwing out products, without being completely wasteful or adding to landfills.
However, biodegradable products are unique from recyclable products in that they naturally break down or decompose due to bacteria and other living organisms.
Recycling differs from this in that recyclable products won’t break down on their own.
So, they are reused with a new purpose and used again to get the most out of them. However, this process is done by humans.
Why is Recycling Important?
Recycling is incredibly important for the environment, and in most cases, it takes the same amount of effort as throwing out something in the trash.
So, make sure you do it, instead of letting a plastic bottle that might not decompose for 450 years into our oceans.
Here are a few reasons it’s important to recycle:
- Conserves energy
- Recycling saves oil and gas from being used, meaning that those materials can be used to produce energy and other materials.
- Reduces water pollution
- Runoff carrying hazardous chemicals in landfills carries those hazardous chemicals into local waterways. If those waterways flow into a larger waterway, then the chemicals will continue to be carried through these waterways. This means that those chemicals are damaging multiple ecosystems, including aquatic ones.
- Reduces greenhouse gasses
- Less waste at landfills means fewer greenhouse gasses will come from landfills.
- Conserves natural resources
- Making materials requires large amounts of resources to be used, both in the process and product. Recycling reduces the resources used.
Another important reason to recycle is that our landfills are filling up rapidly.
These landfills are terrible for the environment, causing pollution, hazardous runoff, and they create their own form of hazardous gas.
So, by recycling, we can limit the amount of trash going to landfills and help to limit this problem.
People Also Asked
How do you dispose of a Christmas tree?
- Most towns have a service that will come to dispose of your tree for you. As a homeowner, all you have to do is put your tree on the curb. As trees are a natural material, there are a lot of ways to use them. They can be turned into mulch or firewood, for instance.
Do I need to do anything special to dispose of my tree?
- Individual towns may have their own rules on tree disposal, so make sure to check with your town’s waste disposal service. However, most towns don’t require anything to be done except that all your ornaments are removed and the tree is left beside the road.
Do Christmas wreaths need netting?
- No, most people won’t put netting on wreaths due to their size. However, you can add a net to them if you’re worried about potential damage.
How is netting added to a Christmas tree?
- Christmas trees are put through specialized balers that wrap the trees in netting or twine.
