Comparative environmental impact assessment between natural and plastic Christmas tree: a case study

The production of natural Christmas trees is a niche between forest and agriculture sectors. In Italy, Christmas tree cultivation is a traditional activity, typical in upper hills and mountains, which was very common and remunerative in some areas. Since a long time, the market of natural tree underwent the competition of the plastic one, which is often considered by customers as more practical, durable and efficient in terms of environmental sustainability. The aim of this study was to answer to the question: “is it better the natural or the plastic Christmas tree?”. To answer, under an environmentally point of view, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to compare the two different kinds of product. The study has been divided in four phases: - Analysis of customer preferences about Christmas tree; - Data collection on the production of both natural and artificial trees, considering the most common products available on the market in central Italy (local production chain for natural trees and industrial production in China for plastic ones). - Identification of system boundaries; the analysis is a cradle to grave LCA, being all the phases of life cycle included in the analysis, from raw material production to disposal of the product at the end of its life. - Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and comparison of results with Gabi software. In this contribution, the best environmental profile and the hotspot in CO2 eq emission, which is a parameter used as indicator for Greenhouse Gas (GhG) impact category, will be presented