Lebanon Debuts Christmas Tree Made From 108,000 Plastic Bottles
By Mikelle Leow, 13 Dec 2022
Tree-huggers are dreaming of a green Christmas, and a fragment of this wish is taking shape as a tree crafted from 108,000 recycled plastic bottles in Lebanon.
The 59-foot-tall structure and its star was brought to life by recycling artist Caroline Chaptini, who in 2020 broke the Guinness world record for largest bottle cap mosaic, along with a team of environmental activists and Pierre Ziadeh, festival director of the Christmas by the Lake festival in northern Lebanon.
The plastic tree, lit near the Bnachii Lake in the Zgharta district, also bears the shape of an emerald to symbolize the importance of taking care of the precious planet.
It joins two other plastic-dotted displays from the project, including a plastic cave and a globe consisting of 105,000 plastic layers with the message, “We don’t have Planet B,” the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation reports.
This is the festival’s 15th run, and the first after two years of ruined Christmases.
Organizers detail that the event will be “celebrate[d] sustainably,” and that the plastic pieces will be donated for a good cause after the event concludes on January 10, 2023.
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[via The Telegraph and LBC Group, images via various sources]