Nazly Ahmed
PET Bottle Christmas Tree, the Christmas tree constructed using only plastic bottles is on display at the Wellawatte beach, for the fourth consecutive year.
Standing 12 feet tall, the Christmas tree was made using over 1500 polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, all of which had been collected from the beach. The Pearl Protectors, together with members of the Rotaract Club of IIT, students of Asha Foundation and members of the Rotaract Club of Visakha Vidyalaya put the tree together this year, with the partnership of ZeroTrash, who provided the discarded plastic bottles that contaminated the beaches.
According to the Pearl Protectors, this tree was built to highlight the challenges Sri Lanka’s marine environment faces due to increasing plastic pollution.
The tree will be up till 30 December to create public awareness of the plastic crisis and advocate against polluting brands — “We made sure to keep the brand labels of the bottles used for the tree,” one volunteer of the organisation said. Once the tree is removed, the bottles will be collected by Zero Trash and recycled.
