Lebanese environment-friendly initiative turns 120,000 plastic bottles into Christmas tree

Record ID: 1449145

  • Title: Lebanese environment-friendly initiative turns 120,000 plastic bottles into Christmas tree
  • Date: 19th December 2019
  • Summary: CHEKAA, LEBANON (DECEMBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEERS SORTING PLASTIC BOTTLES PLASTIC BOTTLES VARIOUS OF CHRISTMAS TREE MADE OUT OF PLASTIC BOTTLES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CREATOR OF CHRISTMAS TREE, CAROLINE SHABTINI, SAYING: "Last year, around two months before Christmas, I had started drinking a lot of water because I heard it helps with weight-loss, so I started collecting the plastic bottles and putting them in the storage under the stairs. I collected around 500 bottles but I felt bad throwing them away. We don't have any recycling efforts here so instead I did some research and made a small tree for my daughter at home consisting of 50 bottles. Then this year, when people saw it, they said to me: Why not make it bigger?" SHABTINI WITH FAMILY VARIOUS OF BOTTLES ON TREE / TREE VARIOUS OF VISITORS OF CHRISTMAS MARKET WHERE TREE IS ON DISPLAY / CHILDREN PLAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CREATOR OF CHRISTMAS TREE, CAROLINE SHABTINI, SAYING: "It took twenty days to finish. There were a lot of people helping me out from Chekka. You don't know how helpful the people here are. People aged 3 to 60 years old are working. All NGOs in Chekka also helped out." VARIOUS OF TREE ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CREATOR OF CHRISTMAS TREE, CAROLINE SHABTINI, SAYING: "I registered with Guinness with 120,000 bottles, but it actually took 129,000 bottles. It is 28.5 metres. I did some research and found that last year, Mexico had done one which was in the Guinness book of world records, that was 27.4 meters and 98,000 bottles. So, I think in Lebanon we can do better." VARIOUS OF LIGHT DISPLAY READING (English): "2020" / VISITORS TAKING PICTURES NEAR DISPLAY VARIOUS OF CHRISTMAS TREES MADE OUT OF LIGHT BULBS SIGN READING (English): "I love Chekka" MORE OF BOTTLES ON TREE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) VOLUNTEER, YOUSSEF SHAMI, SAYING: "The tree that you can see here is the biggest proof that we are taking care of our environment and we encourage everyone to do the same. We are really happy that the whole city was working together hand in hand, because we are all stronger together." MORE OF CHRISTMAS TREE
  • Embargoed: 2nd January 2020 12:57
  • Keywords: Bottles Christmas Lebanon Plastic Tree
  • Location: CHEKKA, LEBANON
  • City: CHEKKA, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA001BAN4NRP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Caroline Shabtini and members of her community used 120,000 plastic bottles to build a Christmas tree in the Lebanese city of Chekka, hoping to send a message on the importance of recycling.
    Shabtini began collecting bottles last year and had made a small Christmas tree out of 500 bottles for her daughter to enjoy at home. But friends and family who all saw the tree encouraged Shabtini to make it even bigger this holiday season.
    She spent the better half of 2019 gathering empty plastic bottles, and created a social media hashtag for people to donate them instead of throwing them away.
    At 28.5 meters high, and with roughly 129,000 bottles in the structure, Shabtini hopes the enviornment-friendly initiative can earn her a spot on the Guinness book of world records.
    Once the season is over, Shabtini will send the plastic bottles to a recycling factory and the bottle caps will be donated to a Lebanese non-governmental organisation named 'L'ecoute'.
    (Production: Walid Saleh, Imad Creidi, Ayat Basma)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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