It's the holiday season's version of the debate over paper versus plastic.

Some like the convenience of pulling an artificial Christmas tree out of the closet and not having to vacuum up all those loose needles. Others prefer the smell, look and touch of a real evergreen.

But if one wants to go beyond personal preference and do something good for the environment, which is the better choice? Not surprisingly, tree dealers spin the answer in the direction of their respective livelihoods.

Rick Dungey, media liaison for the National Christmas Tree Association, a St. Louis organization that represents the nation's holiday tree farms, suggests the choice is clear: A real tree is the way to go.

"You can give back to the land that gave you the tree," Dungey said. "You're creating less waste by using a real tree because it can be recycled right back into the Earth. If you're buying an artificial tree, eventually it is going to have to be thrown away. It can never be recycled because it is not biodegradable, it is made out of plastic and metal."

Dungey said association consumer polls show 93 percent of real, cut trees are recycled.

As for the notion that filling American living rooms with cut trees is laying waste to the nation's forests, he said that's inaccurate. According to the University of Illinois Extension, 98 percent of all live cut Christmas trees are grown on farms.

"Really, Christmas tree production is no different than farming corn or wheat or any other commodity," said Anne Reichman, director of Earth 911, a Scottsdale, Ariz., for-profit firm that operates a Web site offering information on how to recycle cut trees.

The association says that 500,000 acres of Christmas trees are grown and harvested in the United States and each acre produces enough oxygen for 18 people.

A mess at the curb

Peter Barthelmess, owner and president for Barcana Inc., an artificial tree manufacturer in Los Angeles, is not impressed with the arguments for real trees. He suggests pulling a fake tree out of storage or buying a new one at the store is hands down the better choice.

"I think it is a lot worse cutting down thousands and millions of trees every year instead of letting them grow," Barthelmess said.

Then there is the sheer magnitude of the mess after the holiday, as people haul the brittle, shedding, tinder-dry hulks of their once-beautiful firs to the curb.

"I see them laying there on the curbsides for weeks, and you wonder if they are ever going to be picked up," Barthelmess said.

Barthelmess said the beauty of artificial trees is they are not likely to go to the landfill for many years.

"A lot of our trees have been passed on from generation to generation," he said. "They aren't going to be thrown into a trash can unless somebody takes a semi and runs over them."

Barthelmess maintains that fake trees are ideal for a region such as Southern California that is routinely hammered by drying Santa Ana winds that shorten the already short shelf life of the cut tree.

"How many fires are we preventing by having artificial trees that are flame retardant?" he asked. "All it takes is an electrical shortage and you have set your house on fire."

Barthelmess said his company sells 30,000 to 40,000 trees a year, mostly for commercial purposes.

"We're like the Mercedes-Benz of Christmas trees," he said. "We do a lot of the theme parks. We do Disneyland and Universal Studios. We do a lot of the shopping malls."

According to a National Christmas Tree Association survey, Americans last year bought 32.8 million real trees at an average retail price of $41.90 and 9.3 million artificial ones at a typical price of $72.20.

Many others took already owned fake trees out of storage.

The University of Illinois Extension estimates that 21 percent of U.S. households display real trees while 48 percent put up fake ones. The remaining three in 10 households do not take part in the tradition.

In California, 4 million real Christmas trees are sold annually and more than 40,000 tons of tree material is recycled or taken to the landfill, said Sarah Huoh, spokeswoman for Waste Management of San Diego and Orange counties. Environmentally conscious buyers should avoid flocking trees, Huoh said, because those cannot be recycled.

A personal choice

For those hoping to go beyond the competitors with their biases to clear up the fake-versus-real question, don't expect a whole lot of help from the government, the waste handling industry or major environmental groups.

"It's a personal choice," Huoh said.

Asked whether the California Integrated Waste Management Board had any advice, spokesman Lanny Clavecilla said, "We actually don't. Both of them can be disposed of properly in their own way."

Neither the Sierra Club's San Diego County chapter nor its San Gorgonio (Riverside-San Bernardino counties) chapter has a formal position on which type of tree is better for the environment.

"In the Sierra Club, you'll find people on both sides of the line," said Terry Wold, a conservation coordinator in Riverside County.

But some regional environmental leaders offered personal advice.

Cheryl Reiff, San Diego chapter coordinator, said she believes cut trees are better because fake ones, no matter how long they are kept, wind up in a landfill and many are made of toxic materials. While the other option entails cutting trees down, tree farms are constantly replacing them with seedlings, she said.

Reiff said an even better strategy is to buy a potted tree and plant it after the holidays. But she acknowledged that option has its drawbacks, as not everyone has a yard and not everyone's yard is suited to a holiday tree.

Wold has a suggestion for those who cannot plant: Donate a tree to someone who lives in the heavily forested mountain communities of Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties that have been ravaged by drought and the bark beetle.

"I know people who have lost 20 and 30 trees on their properties," Wold said. "It just broke my heart."

Adopting a potted tree

For residents of San Diego County, Reiff has a suggestion: Try out a new adopt-a-tree program designed by environmentalist Michael McClure.

"As an environmentalist, I haven't been very big on having a Christmas tree in the past," McClure said. "But when I was a kid, I used to love falling asleep by the Christmas tree."

Those memories are flooding to the surface as he prepares for the birth of his first child, a son who will be named Devin.

"He's due on Christmas Day," McClure said.

Inspired by thoughts of his son, McClure launched the Adopt A Christmas Tree Foundation, a new San Diego company that is delivering potted trees and picking them up after the holidays. Tree varieties include California redwoods, leylandii cypresses, deodar cedars and Italian stone pines that adapt well to Southern California's mild winters. They will be planted in parks and burn areas wiped out by the record-setting Cedar fire of 2003.

The delivery comes with much fanfare.

"Elves come and sing and dance," McClure said. "And the song they sing is about how to care for the tree."

McClure, who gives his title as "papa elf," is coy about where he is getting his trees.

"They are in the Enchanted Forest where the elves are caring for them and getting them ready," he said. "It's in a secret location."

Like other Christmas tree dealers, McClure calls attention to the downsides of competitors' products, particularly the cut tree grown on a farm.

"It can be mulched up, for sure, but it's going to actually release carbon dioxide into the environment," he said. "It's still a lot of waste for what is, a decoration."

His company may be reached at www.adoptachristmastree.com or (858) 272-2007. The association is at www.christmastree.org.

The Sierra Club may be reached at http://sangorgonio.sierraclub.org and http://sandiego.sierraclub.org. Waste Management's local Web site is http://northcounty.wm.com.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.