Company Offers Live Christmas Tree Rental

A tree is a must-have for many during Christmas, with the colorful ornaments and lights to brighten the home. But after the holiday, many trees are thrown to the curb. One company in the UK is trying to change that, by keeping the Christmas spirit alive.

At Cotswold Fir Forestry, a Christmas tree farm in Southern England, there is a growing grove of holiday Christmas tree rentals. The trees are grown in pots. A couple weeks before Christmas, the trees are netted, pots and all, and shipped off.

Paul Keene with Cotswold Fir Forestry says the trend is growing in popularity. "We've gone from 12 trees to I don't know, I’ve lost count, thousands now."

After Christmas, the trees are picked up and returned to the farm. “We have Christmas on the farm the rest of the year for 11 months,” Keene says.

It helps solve the problem of what to do with millions of trees kicked to the curb after the holiday. And, Keene says, these trees offer something that you just don’t get from a dead one. “These are a living tree, they don't shed needles,” he says.

According to Keene, some people love their trees so much, they come back for the same one every year. “We get costumers who regularly name their trees. Come back, 'I've come to pick up,' whatever it is, Bruce is quite a popular name,” Keene says.

Elizabeth Davies says she started a new tradition with a rented tree this year. "We actually started looking for a reusable tree because as a family, we've tried to make some changes to just be a little bit more environmentally conscious," she says.

Davies says it’s the traditions that really make Christmas special. “The moment the tree arrives and goes up, I think everybody is in that sort of Christmas spirit," she says.

John Chapman also rented a tree this year. "I don't like the idea of cutting down plants for a couple days pleasure and then chucking them away," Chapman says.

Once the trees grow too big, families can either keep the tree and plant it in their garden or they are planted elsewhere.