Tallest recycled Plastic Bottle Christmas Tree in Africa lights up Accra

Every year Mc Kingtorch Africa, builds a few 10 feet tall bottles tree with 400 used plastic bottles. This year, new record has been set thanks to the sponsorship of Geodrill Ghana, West Africa’s leading exploration drilling company and Twellium the company that produces Verna Water.

Both Geodrill and Twellium sponsored the project as part of their commitment to promoting sustainability and allowed for Mc Kingtorch Africa to produce 7 waste bottles Christmas trees with the largest one being a 20 footer tree with a base of 7 feet and with 1300 plastic waste bottles. They have generated a great deal of interest and attention in the streets of Ridge in Accra.

The trees are hand woven by over 50 volunteers with over 10 hours spent weaving, decorating and lighting each of the trees.

The Mc Kingtorch Christmas Tree sponsored by Geodrill and Twellium is the tallest and biggest on the continent of Africa.

Excitingly, the Mc Kingtorch Christmas Tree sponsored by Geodrill and Twellium has found its way into some amazing spaces this year as it is featuring for the first time at the ‘Light Up Accra’ Christmas Lighting done by Jandel in partnership with selected banks and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

The fabrication of the trees itself has been done around a road show with sessions held at Academic City University, Aburi Girls Senior High School, Achimota School, Vivie’s Dance Factory and another at Ada. The road show has allowed over 200 volunteers to participate in the sessions. The plastic waste bottles have been recovered from homes and offices, such as Geodrill, over the year through a plastic waste recovery program that Mc Kingtorch Africa runs.

Dave Harper, CEO of Geodrill and a recipient of 2021’s Millennium Excellence Awards, told News Ghana “Geodrill is proud to back this creative & festive use of plastic bottles, some of which came from Geodrill’s office plastic collection point”.

This project is a powerful advocacy tool as it influences the behaviour of people on responsible handling of plastic waste while making non-contaminated plastic waste available to recycling facilities and allowing women who pick waste to make decent cash on picking of plastic waste.

The project has been documented by the BBC and Joy News this year. Geodrill has sponsored several innovative projects with Mc Kingtorch Africa including a bus shelter made out of plastic bottles and children’s sleeping mats to be distributed by Children of the Light Ghana.