By Tania de Silva
This past Christmas, The Pearl Protectors constructed a 12 feet tall Christmas tree at Wellawatta Beach with the support of their enthusiastic volunteers and in partnership with Zerotrash LK. For the fourth consecutive year, this PET Bottle Christmas tree was constructed by using 1500+ discarded plastic bottles collected from the shorelines of Sri Lanka.
The determined team met on the 21st and 22nd of December 2022 at Zero Trash Boralesgamuwa and on the 23rd & 24th of December 2022 at Wellawatta Beach with the motive of advocating for the reduced usage of plastic and for the purpose of protecting the marine environment. Prior to this, PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles were collected and stored from all the beach clean-ups conducted during 2022. All PET bottles were cleaned, water was included as weight, strings attached, and the bottles had to be classified according to the size, before being transported to Wellawatta.
On day three, all bottles which were prepared at Zerotrash were brought to Wellawatta Beach. Volunteers from The Pearl Protectors, with the support of team members of the Rotaract Club of Informatics Institute of Technology, started hanging the bottles to create the outer structure of this tree. During the course of construction, Grade 5 students from Imbulana Sri Sena Maha Vidyalaya visited to witness the construction of the tree where they also saw the ocean for the first time.
On the 24th, the last day of the tree construction, the last batch of bottles was hung on the tree and the lights were added with the support of a handful of passionate volunteers from The Pearl Protectors, Asha Foundation, and Visakha Vidyalaya Interactors. Sri Lanka Coast Guard also showed their support towards the lighting of the tree.
The PET Bottle Christmas tree was made for the fourth year in a row to recognize the challenges posed to our marine environment due to single-use plastics. The tree reminded us of the lasting negative impacts of single-use plastic on our oceans and beaches and reminded us all to cut down on its usage because most often than not, the plastic items that we use – such as plastic bottles – are sure to end up littering our oceans and beaches. Not only is this an eyesore, but it also threatens marine animals and the marine ecosystem.
In conclusion, The Pearl Protector volunteers deconstructed the PET Bottle Christmas tree, and all the bottles were sent for recycling through Zerotrash LK (Pvt) Ltd. The Pearl Protectors were grateful to all the passionate volunteers who came to support the preparation, construction, and dismantling of the tree
Header Image: Road Media/Nazly Ahmed
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