Haifa municipality, in Israel, has gone green for Christmas, building its tree using over 5000 recycled plastic bottles. The tree, which is environmentally friendly, was built to raise awareness and promote recycling.

 

An Israeli artist is delivering a greener message this festive season by creating a recycled Christmas tree.

Designer Hadas Itzcovitch, together with her father, built a 12 meter tree with some 55 hundred recycled plastic bottles.

Itzcovitch says it was a collective effort in which all the residents of Haifa took part.

Hadas Itzcovitch, Treebuilding Artist, said, "The plastic bottles came from their own homes. They (citizens of Haifa) collect the bottles, put them in containers and the municipality gave them to me. So, it's all Haifa's peoples project."

Though many would not think of plastic bottles as aesthetically pleasing, but that all changes when the tree is shown at night glowing with its finest festive lights.

Residents and visitors could be seen snapping pictures of the holiday display.

Yaron Openhhime, Haifa Resident, said, "This tree that is made of recycled bottles represents the fact that we can live in harmony with the environment."

The tree now illuminates the center of Haifa, Israel's third largest city in which Jews, Muslims and Christian live together.

Coincidentally, the tree's construction was finished just days after a devastating fire swept through the nearby Carmel mountains reaching the city of Haifa.

An estimated 5,000 hectares were burnt in the blaze, some five million trees were destroyed.