Bengaluru Church makes 25-ft Christmas tree with recyclable materials

The tradition of using recyclable materials has helped the church cut down the decoration costs by 50% each year

In line with a decade-old tradition, members of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church on Primrose Road in the heart of Bengaluru have built a 25-foot-tall Christmas tree decorated with recyclable materials like aluminium foil, cartons and newspapers.

The tradition of using recyclable materials has helped the church cut down the decoration costs by 50 per cent each year. While some decorations are made from aluminium lunch trays, they cut cartons into shapes of stars and ball newspapers with aluminium foils to make ornaments.

“The church has been providing free mid-day meals to about 100 people every day for over six months now. These lunches are served in aluminium containers and thus the idea to use aluminium foil for the decorations,” said Daniel K T, a member of the church, who took part in building the tree.

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Since the practice started in 2008, the church has used materials like old tyres, dry vegetables, cloth scraps, coconut shells, electric wire sleeves and many such eco-friendly, recyclable materials for Christmas trees.

“The message the church wants to give out is that everyday disposable materials can be converted to beautiful creations and to be evergreen and joyful like the Christmas tree even in difficult circumstances,” Daniel said.

Around 20 members of the church worked for about three weeks to prepare the tree. The trend of using recycled materials to decorate Christmas trees is also picking up in other parts of the city. “Over the years, I have seen a few churches experiment with the idea of using eco-friendly materials for their tree decorations,” Daniel added.

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