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

Since 2006, Balsam Hill has been committed to reusability, quality, realism, and innovation in 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. And 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 each Balsam Hill tree, including the company’s three-year warranty that comes standard with every tree sold.

“An important part of Balsam Hill‘s mission is to offer even more sustainable Christmas trees that will be a centerpiece 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,” said Mac Harman, Founder and CEO of Balsam Hill. “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 from old Balsam Hill trees that we recycled—an inspiring tree we’ve placed in our design studio that showcases our commitment to innovation and sustainability.”

Beyond these changes to how they make its trees, Balsam Hill is also focused on implementing sustainable systems throughout its operations. Small changes can make a big impact, including switching to recycle-ready packaging, including paper not plastic tape, and removing bubble wrap in most of its tree packaging in 2024. This year, after years of research and development to address the challenge of recycling artificial Christmas trees, the company is planning to pilot a tree collection and recycling program in Dublin, Ireland. As in past years, artificial Christmas trees and holiday light strings will be collected for future recycling efforts at the Balsam Hill Outlet located in Burlingame, California, with plans to explore ways to broaden this offering to more customers across the US as soon as possible.

This year, over 85% of Balsam Hill’s Christmas trees will be made from these new more sustainable materials, and will be available across all its ecommerce sites, including the U.S., France, Germany, the UK, Australia, and Canada.