Rent a live Christmas tree: A new service offered in Los Angeles

**A Los Angeles firm has come up with a way of making Christmas more green - by renting out Christmas trees.**The Living Christmas Company offers to deliver its potted 2ft to 7ft tall trees, and then collect them once the festive season is over.

The trees are electronically tagged so a customer can request the same tree the following year.

Company boss Scott Martin says he has rented out 600 trees this year, costing from $50 (£31) to $185 (£115).

“What we are trying to do is resurrect the symbolism of Christmas,” he told the BBC. "People have gone away from it because of the perception that a cut tree is deforestation - so there are environmental reasons for not getting a cut tree.

“So people start switching to an artificial tree, but how Christmasy is that [A tree] is meant to symbolise new hope, new faith, new life. Does a plastic tree really say that to you”

One of his customers is Grammy award-winning musician Lucinda Williams. She told the BBC: “It’s a sustainable idea. It’s good for the planet. It’s green.”

This is the second year Scott Martin - who calls himself Scotty Claus at this time of year - has run the rental Christmas Tree service. According to the Los Angeles Times, he has 8,000 trees in five different varieties to rent.