Roadside Christmas trees in Montreal will be given a second life for the first time this year when used to make essential oils. The newspaper was able to follow this process, which allows to reevaluate almost 100% of this symbol of the holidays.
1) In the yard of Multi Recyclage, hundreds of conifers are piled up in a jumble in mid-January. After the celebrations, this is where the Christmas trees from 12 of Montreal’s 19 boroughs end up after being collected and shredded.
Martin Cloutier, President of the Laval sorting center, is particularly proud of Baumberg this year alongside General Manager Guillaume Lange-Demers.
“Before, we sent the trees to be burned [pour produire de l’énergie]but here we really give them a second life,” he says.
Finally, these firs, which make up about 150 tons, are transformed into essential oils thanks to a new partnership established with the Arbressence company. Even organic residues are used to enrich the soil of sod farms.
2) Once the trees have been unloaded from a truck, a mechanical shovel is activated to dump handfuls of them into a fast crusher.
“It eats everything, this machine. No Christmas tree is too big for her,” calls Martin Cloutier through the noise.
The rubble is then transported by a conveyor belt to a red and green 10-tonne container, which fills at full speed.
3) The fast chopper can chop a tree in seconds. Such a monster costs around 1 million dollars new.
4) After the periwinkles go through the shredder, only twigs, needles, and shavings up to four inches remain. The smell of the tree is so strong that it feels like Christmas when you close your eyes.
5) The trees, which are cut into wood chips, are pressed for transport to Blainville, about twenty kilometers away.
6) Plant residues are unloaded at Arbressence, a specialist in the processing of conifers.
Since 2003, the small business founded by Yannick Rudolph Binette has been making essential oils and other environmentally conscious products made from waste that would otherwise end up in landfills.
7) Employees fill the distillation vessels.
8th) These huge barrels make it possible to produce essential oils through a steam distillation extraction process.
For six hours, the remains of the plant are heated, creating steam containing the molecules of essential oils.
The vapors are then condensed and return to their liquid form, “like drops on the lid of a kettle,” describes Mr. Rudolph Binette.
9) The slightly cloudy liquid that comes out of the pipe consists of essential oils and hydrolate, i.e. water loaded with aromatic essences.
After just a few minutes of decanting, the two liquids separate.
The co-owner of Arbressence estimates that around 50ml of essential oils can be extracted from a balsam fir like the ones we find in our living rooms at Christmas.
“But it’s not a precise science!” he laughs.
Last year his company produced around 200 liters of essential oils from 400,000 fir trees.
The vast majority of these are balsam fir (Abies balsamea), but a few Fraser firs and spruces occasionally slip into the mix. Unsold Christmas trees from producers are also recycled.
And when Boxing Day is particularly busy, timber companies supply the branches year-round.
10) Arbressence has a whole range of products that will continue to embalm homes in the form of soaps, room fragrances or essential oils.
“Sometimes I even have customers come to get the essential oil from their tree! ‘ says Yannick Rudolph Binette.
His clients also include several spas as well as pharmaceutical companies.
The remaining organic waste is then turned into a supplement to fertilize the soil used by turf producing companies.
This means your tree will return to the ground in a specific way.
Photo Martin Alari
From left to right Martin Cloutier, President of Multi Recyclage, Lyne Lange, Vice President, and Yannick Rudolph Binette, co-owner of Arbressence, are excited about this partnership which will enable tens of thousands of Christmas trees to be enhanced.
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