i guess i'm wondering how it's better to use countless clean paper plates than to cut down a tree. using live trees is fabulous, as long as they survive the season living in a mall or store window.

phlora - i'm with you on that. it's be one thing to use scrap papaer to make the cone shapes (as i always seem to have a pile of discarded print offs from work that could just as easily be used).

I'm with the above posters. I never even have paper plates in my house, but I could see this with all those mailers I recycle anyway.

phlora is right:

Those paper plates are made from trees which were cut & shipped to a factory, chopped to bits by a machine, bleached with chemicals, then pressed and cut and shipped to your store in a plastic bag inside of a cardboard box...

..and then to do this you have to use more chemical dyes and metal staples (which are unlikely to be gathered for metal recycling)

This is simple Greenwashing.

Who posts these wasteful tips and ideas and who's idea is it to hire them and feature them here?

In total agreement with you all. When I read the article, the sentence that got me was the following:
"Instead of needlessly cutting down trees ...."
Yeah. And the paper plates lived in their previous lives as tree, too. At least the cut trees will end up recycled into woodchips while the dyed or spray painted paper plates will end up in the landfill.

Agreed on the first one, no doubt. I do think, though, that the second and third presentations are at least semi-successful "green" projects, assuming of course that you're not just going to throw them out after one Christmas. But I kind of doubt that Anthropolgie is sticking those things back in a Rubbermaid for next year...

I'm in total agreement with all of the above. I do have to say that while Anthropologie has interesting displays they are exceedingly wasteful. Last winter my local store had rolls and rolls of bubble wrap artistically displayed to mimic snow. Almost made me choke all the use of plastic.

Has anthropologie forgotten that tree's are a renewable resource?

@Ban Clothing, exaclty. don't tree farms like, um... replant?

having read this article a second time i am struck at the ridiculousness. this is one of those, Are they serious?? posts.

Epic fail by Anthro. Too bad because I generally love them.

Having operated a family tree farm for over 50 years, I can confirm that cutting down a Christmas tree is akin to harvesting any other crop. Saying it's better to replace trees with wasteful paper products is like saying making one's fruit out of papier mache is better than picking an apple.

I'm another who wonders why people have such trouble with farmed trees. Getting one from a forest is one thing, but objecting to cutting farmed trees is like objecting to cutting broccoli.

Are these a neat craft and a different take on holiday decor? Yes.
Are they green in any way but the literal color? No.

You all are so negative.

My grandmother was a hoarder, and when she passed we were left with several hundred paper plates (she would buy them on sale or for parties and have leftovers). They were all covered in wax so they couldn't be recycled or composted. None of us wanted to eat off of paper plates for the next 5 years, so they were destined for the trash.
Something like this would have been a great way to give them a use before they were disposed of. And who takes staples to the recycler? Really?

The post is not saying go out and buy the most unenvironmentally friendly paper plates you can find and throw them straight in the trash. It's a nice way to use what you (or at least the average person) probably already have.

I'm not sure you could dye waxed paper plates either. How many average people really have a crafty Christmas tree's worth of paper plates they don't need to use for their intended purpose? And regardless, the plate tree will likely be thrown out after the holiday--not usefully mulched.

Still, I am not anti-craft. My main issue here is that the project is being touted by AT as an environmentally-friendly alternative to cut trees. Anthropologie claims to be using recycled materials obtained through partnerships with local businesses--perhaps they mean actually used items? But otherwise it is unlikely to be a green alternative to farmed trees.

Natural Home magazine has instructions for the same type of tree but made using newspapers.

http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/diy-projects/try-this-newspaper-christmas-tree.aspx

I would skip the chicken wire as in Natural Home mag instructions and use a cone made from recycled cardboard.