REVELLERS are being given the chance to have a green Christmas - by taking delivery of a reusable tree.

The Living Christmas Tree company was started up this year by Kerris Casey-St.Pierre and her partner, Jules Whitehead, based at their home in Feniscowles, Blackburn.

The pair were inspired to start a firm which can provide an environmentally friendly way of supplying real, living Christmas trees to residents in East Lancashire.

Last year more than six million real trees were bought in the UK, but most were thrown out after the festive season.

But The Living Christmas Tree will rent out trees which they will take back after Christmas and look after until next year, cutting down on waste and meaning the same trees can be used over and over again.

And it looks likely that the firm is on track to rent out or sell every one of the 300 trees they have on offer.

Miss Casey-St.Pierre said: "It's mainly aimed at the renting out of trees as an environmental solutions - it stops them going into landfills when people are finished with them.

"A lot of trees come from places like China, so there is the shipping problem. There were six million trees sold last year and only about five per cent were recycled.

"It's for people who want a live tree but haven't got somewhere to plant one out every single year."

The firm keeps most of its trees in Altham, and also ships some from Scotland. But to show off its selection - which includes large trees and smaller ones for shop windows - the company has been holding a market stall on Fleming Square every Saturday until Christmas.

Rented trees are delivered to the door, and picked up again after Christmas. They are then potted and looked after until next year, when hopefully they will be rented out again.

The firm also uses environmentally friendly bi fuels where possible to deliver the trees.

Miss Casey-St.Pierre added: "This is our first year but people are really really interested in it. We hired a tree last year ourselves and thought it was a good idea. People are more aware of the environment now.

"If you get a living tree the hardest thing can be getting rid of it afterwards. With us it gets taken away afterwards. We wanted to set up a company and this really fit in with our ideals.

"It's all about raising environmental consciousness and not having a detrimental effect on the environment. And, everybody wants a Christmas tree!".