Waste Hater: Craig Tennock
Waste Hater is a monthly series where we interview friends in the industry doing interesting and awesome work to reduce all kinds of waste, food or otherwise. This December, in honor of the holidays, we spoke with Craig Tennock, who created the ‘Rental Claus’ program at his tree farm, Cotswold Fir.
As one of the biggest holidays of the year approaches, families across the world are on the lookout for their centerpiece… the perfect holiday tree. Trees can be a beautiful accent in the home for a few weeks ( there’s also the added benefit of fresh pine goodness!), but once the new year hits, most meet their demise on the street corner.
And that’s no way to go down! Plus, it’s wasteful.
Craig Tennock has a solution. The founder and owner of Cotswold Fir Forestry, a tree farm in Cheltenham, United Kingdom, spoke to Replate about ‘Rental Claus', their rent-a-christmas-tree scheme that solves the worst part of the holidays, throwing out the tree.
Cotswold Fir Forestry with partner Primrose Valley Farm, has been growing and renting potted trees on their 35 acres of land for over a decade, providing live trees for British families year after year. The tree farms ‘Rental Claus’ scheme allows families to pick a potted tree for the holiday season and return it in January. The tree farm stores and cares for the tree throughout the year until the season rolls around.
For many families, renting their tree from Cotswold Fir has become a tradition.
“More than 80% of the time families want the same tree for next year,” Tennock tells Replate. “The tree grows with them and becomes a part of the family, they even name them.”
How does this process work out? It starts with finding the best source. Tennock explains that the Norway spruce is the most popular potted tree at the farm, and best suited for the climate. He adds “the Nordmann fir don’t like pots as much because they have bigger roots. Once the tree gets over three feet, they prefer to be in the ground.”
Customers can rent trees from three to seven feet tall (and the best part is they just keep growing!). Cotswold Fir embraces sustainable measures by utilizing and maintaining their land to counter waste. Their potted trees are fed with controlled amounts of water through a drip feed irrigation system sourced from their onsite lake. This drip feed system enables Cotswold Fir to feed the tree’s with a required amount of water without wasting any of the farm's natural resources.
Potted trees are less resource-intensive than growing them on land, Tennock explains.
“Cut trees use eight times more space,” he notes. “You have to space the seeds out properly and cannot easily re-plant. With potted plants we do not have to spray fertilizers or use excess water, every resource goes straight into the pot.”
With over 100,000 potted trees grown at Cotswold Fir, they are able to preserve acres of land as well as save and maintain excess resources.
Cotswold Fir also tries to combat their CO2 emissions by only delivering trees within a seven mile radius of the tree farm. The tree farm works with wholesalers occasionally however they do not make it a priority, as they believe that focusing on the local customer base is more effective for the environment. The closer the tree has been grown to both where it’s bought and where the customer lives, the better, reducing its overall carbon footprint.
“Families call from all over England to tell us they are traveling to our farm because they love our initiatives and want to support us,” Tennock observes. “However I advise them to look for a small local business that provides potted trees so that they do not counteract their good intentions with travel emissions.”
Cotswold Fir Forestry also provides a free tree recycling initiative for people in the area that decide on a cut tree for the holiday season. Cotswold Fir collects the cut trees in January and chips them, providing mulch for the tree farms' land.
Tennock emphasizes the importance of doing what makes you happy and feel good this holiday season. He advises people to support small local businesses and eliminate single-use plastic to enhance personal sustainability initiatives.
Better yet, look out for someone like Rental Claus in your own neighborhood!
For more information on Cotswold Fir and Rental Claus, visit their website.
Learn more about Replate here!