Romanian Shopping Mall's Consumerism Alert With 'Garbage Exhibition'

An exhibition made up of garbage has opened in a huge shopping mall in Romania's capital in an attempt to alert the public to the impact of consumerism on the environment, organisers said. "This is a parable teaching visitors that everything they see in this shopping centre, from the smallest to the biggest objects and from the most desirable to the most useful ones, will turn into trash," Ilie Brie, head of a local sustainable development group, told AFP.

"One must remember that every single gesture, every single wish to buy something generates rubbish and then someone else must find a way to deal with it."

From old TV sets and computers to used bulbs and plastic bags, the exhibits illustrate the path from garbage collection to recycling.

Artworks including sculptures and pieces of furniture made of beer cans and bottle caps are also on show.

In a country where protecting the environment is hardly a priority, organisers have created several sets showing forests and beaches littered with garbage left behind by picknicking tourists.

In September, the environment ministry and several NGOs organized a "national housekeeping day" during which volunteers cleaned up fields, forests and rivers, filling up 550,000 large waste bags.

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Source-AFP