When you get ready to throw out this year’s Christmas tree, in the next few weeks, you might be interested in this:

On average, artificial trees are used for six years in people’s homes. Then they spend centuries in a landfill. 85 percent of all artificial trees are imported from China. Worldwide, 10 million fake trees were sold worldwide in 2003.

There are approximately 15,000 Christmas tree growers in the U.S. that sell 34 to 36 million trees each year. Christmas trees usually grow for 7 to 10 years before they are cut. The industry employs about 100,000 people.

59 percent of real Christmas trees harvested are recycled to be used to make sand and soil erosion barriers, and they are turned into mulch.

Christmas tree farms provide habitats for wildlife.

An acre of Christmas trees creates the daily oxygen of 18 people.