by Raymond Wang
"The findings of the study are intended to be used as a basis for educated external communication and marketing aimed at the American Christmas tree consumer." "The goal of this LCA is to understand the environmental impacts of both the most common artificial Christmas tree and the most common natural Christmas tree, and to analyze how their environmental impacts compare." "This comparative study is expected to be released to the public by the ACTA to refute myths and misconceptions about the relative difference in environmental impact by real and artificial trees."
"For the artificial tree the system boundary includes: (1) cradle-to-gate material environmental impacts; (2) the production of the artificial tree with tree stand in China; (3) transportation of the tree and stand to a US retailer, and subsequently a customer's home; and (4) disposal of the tree and all packaging."