Bury Christmas, And a Happy New Use: Repurposing Christmas Trees to Prevent Coastal Erosion
When Christmas is over, those formerly-decorated trees may have a new purpose in protecting Connecticut beaches and marshes from erosion.
Discarded Christmas trees help trap sand, stalling erosion, as shown here at Old Black Point Beach in East Lyme (Photo courtesy of David Kozak)
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After they are stripped of festive tinsel and ornaments, most natural Christmas trees find their way out the door and into the dump. But there’s another possibility for these discarded evergreens: helping prevent coastal erosion.
“It serves a dual purpose right now, because people have their Christmas trees and they just throw them away; but if possible, we can use them to mitigate erosion,” Jennifer O’Donnell, UConn associate research professor of marine sciences, says.