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German art activist HA Schult recently erected the Save Beach Hotel on the shores of Rome, using the garbage that has washed onto the shores of Europe. The hotel was built to coincide with World Environment Day and raise awareness about Europe’s beach pollution.
The Save Beach Hotel was built next to the Castel Sant’ Angelo in Rome as a means of paying homage to a throw-away society. This temporary structure was 8.5 metres tall and had two floors, five rooms and weighed 50 tons. The hotel was externally clad with 40 organic wood panels while the walls were made of non-organic waste.
Some of the rubbish that could be identified in the structure of the hotel included toys, cans and car exhaust pipes.
Danish supermodel and keen green campaigner Helena Christensen was one of the guests at the hotel, becoming the unofficial poster-woman for the hotel. The objective with the building of the Save Beach Hotel was to raise awareness about the human relationship with trash and our consumer culture.
The Save Beach Hotel was launched and funded by Mexican beer makers, Corona. They campaign reportedly said: "We have built the first hotel made of trash in the world. This will be the future of our holidays if we do nothing to preserve our beaches."
