Save the Beach Creates Hotel Out of Trash in Rome for Environmental Awareness

A campaign called Save the Beach has created a hotel in Rome, Italy entirely out of 12 tons of trash to raise awareness of our waste.

By Gimundo Staff. Posted on June 08 2010

iStockphoto image

By David Bois for Tonic.com

I can’t help but think how much the late The Who drummer Keith Moon would likely have hated this hotel. What’s the point, after all, of trashing the place when it’s made from garbage to begin with?

But no, this initiative sponsored by Save the Beach, an environmental awareness campaign launched by Cerveceria Modelo (the makers of Corona Beer), was not undertaken with the wanton whim of the unhinged rock star in mind. Instead, with the construction of a Rome hotel from some 12 tons of trash collected from beaches all across Europe, the plan is to get folks to whistle a different tune when it comes to safeguarding our coastal environment.

The hotel is reportedly fully booked. The lack of additional remaining rooms at the inn is largely explained by the project’s fleeting nature: according to BBC, the hotel is open only for four days here in early June, timed to coincide with World Environment Day. And this so-called “trash hotel” appears alongside an admonishing message from Save The Beach that “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.”

Save the Beach enlisted the creative input of German conceptual artist HA Schult to create the just-opened and soon-to-close lodging that has been situated in the city of Rome. Schult commonly works in the medium of garbage in an ever-evolving commentary on modern culture, consumption and on the human and natural environments. In a statement provided by the artist on the Save the Beaches website Schult says:

“The philosophy of this hotel is to expose the damage we are causing to the sea and the coastline. We live in the era of trash and we are running the risk of becoming trash ourselves. Do we really want this world?”

The Rome trash hotel project is just one portion of an ongoing initiative by Save the Beach to lend support to healthy, clean and trash-free beaches all across Europe.

Filed under: Green, Weird,