Christmas trees bring happiness to many people and towns every year. However, it’s not widely known that many trees are discarded as waste after being used for decorations. To address this issue, Green Wise implements various sustainable Christmas ideas under the initiative ‘Slow Green Christmas’ every year, aiming to reduce the number of trees that are used only for Christmas decoration and then thrown away.

The international consulting firm for whom we decorated their office space with our “Slow Green Christmas” last year, is continuing their efforts by implementing holiday decorations that place as little burden on the environment as possible.

These are fir trees that were used for decorations last year. Instead of discarding them after the decoration period, we continued to care for them at Green Wise’s Tama headquarters. Over the past year, we managed the trees so they could be reused here again, and they have grown approximately 40 – 60 cm taller. Since these trees were used indoors for decorations last year and sustained some damage, their branches may grow in a form different from the ideal symmetrical triangle shape often associated with Christmas trees, and their leaf colour may vary. We embraced these unique characteristics and decorated the trees under the theme of not wasting the lives of plants.

Continuing from last year, we have adopted pots made from recycled branches and bark remains produced during the forest agriculture processes. Similar to last year, we decorated the trees with ornaments made from recyclable glass and PET materials, and added ribbon ornaments made from hand towels that were repurposed for the restoration support of the Great East Japan Earthquake. These remade ornaments were provided by Saccora Japan, a Type B employment support facility, adding even more heartfelt meaning to the decoration.

Unfortunately, some fir trees may wither during the decoration period as they struggle to adapt to the changing environment. Instead of viewing “withering” as a negative thing that requires removal, we embrace it as part of the natural cycle. This concept has been well-received, and we’ve evolved the trees into a new type of Christmas decoration by incorporating dried flowers, enhancing their natural dry texture. The antique-coloured trees bring a gentle warmth to the office.

These dried trees are planned to be chipped after the decoration period. We appreciate their natural beauty while they remain as trees, and ultimately, we repurposed them in a different form, continuing our commitment to not discard them as waste.