Balsam Hill announces commitment to more sustainable Christmas trees

Balsam Hill, a global leader in high quality, true to nature, reusable, artificial Christmas trees and holiday décor, has announced an innovation in how its heirloom quality Christmas trees are now being made using more sustainable materials.  

Since 2006, the company has been committed to four core principles: reusability, quality, realism, and innovation, which are the cornerstone for how it makes the Christmas trees its millions of customers have come to love. In that spirit, Balsam Hill is proud to be the first retailer in the world to offer Christmas trees with True Needle tips made with plant based polyethylene, derived from sugarcane, not fossil fuels. 

Just as exciting, as of the holiday 2025 season production line, all the brand’s other True Needle trees will now incorporate 30% post consumer GRS certified recycled polyethylene made from tear away water bottle caps. Both changes were made without sacrificing the quality controls and safety considerations required for every Balsam Hill tree, including the company’s three year warranty that comes standard with every tree sold. 

Mac Harman, founder and CEO of Balsam Hill, said: ‘An important part of Balsam Hill's mission is to offer even more sustainable Christmas trees that will be a centrepiece of our customers’ celebrations for many years. While our trees have always been reusable, these advances are a game changer for the Christmas tree industry.

‘Not only did we create the first artificial tree from plant based polyethylene and innovate over 85% of this year's new tree production, but we also recently tested making a new tree entirely from old Balsam Hill trees that we recycled – an inspiring tree we have placed in our design studio that showcases our commitment to innovation and sustainability.’

Beyond these changes to how it makes its trees, Balsam Hill is also focused on implementing sustainable systems throughout its operations. In fact, it has switched to recycle ready packaging, including paper not plastic tape, and removed bubble wrap in most of its tree packaging as of 2024. 

After years of research and development to address the challenge of recycling artificial Christmas trees, the company is also planning to pilot a tree collection and recycling programme in Dublin, Ireland. This pilot is building on existing recycling efforts the brand has run directly at its Balsam Hill Outlet in Burlingame, California, where artificial Christmas trees and holiday light strings are collected for future recycling efforts.

This year, over 85% of the company’s Christmas trees will be made from these new and more sustainable materials, and will be available across all its e-commerce sites, including the US, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, and Canada.