Trees of ‘Trash’

Businesses around the world go through thousands of rolls of plastic pallet wrap every day. When Metcash reached out asking if AOD would be interested in some defective rolls from one of their distribution centres, of course I said yes—because I love experimenting with new materials!—and naturally I decided to make a big plastic tree out of them for the entrance to the 2024 Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo (AWRE) held last week at ICC Sydney.

Alongside the plastic tree, two other trees made out of cardboard were created for the exhibit hall floor. The materials for these trees were recovered from local business, found on the side of the road or sourced from Reverse Garbage in Marrickville.

An unintentional but happy coincidence was that the trunks and branches of the trees ended up closely resembling the enormous structural support columns that are a conspicuous presence overhead in the ICC exhibition halls: