Tiger made from recycled materials to raise awareness and funds for tigers in the wild
Today, Friday 1 March, a stunning tiger made completely out of recycled materials pounced on St Pancras International. The Veolia tiger is part of Tiger Tracks, a Save Wild Tigers campaign to raise awareness and funds for tigers in the wild.
Veolia Environnement commissioned artist Faith Bebbington to design and bring to life the five foot tiger, using recycled materials from Merseyside’s household recycling bins. Based on a female Bengali tiger, the sculpture was created through treating the bottles, designing the frame and hand sewing each piece of plastic on to create the ‘fur’ effect.
This purrfect plastic tiger:
• Is made from over 300 recycled milk bottles
• Took over 400 hours to create
• Sits on around 58,230 recycled cans
Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer for Veolia Environmental Services (UK) Plc said “We are delighted to have the Veolia recycled tiger on location and to be part of such a worthy cause helping to highlight the vital action that is needed to save these stunning animals before they become extinct. Every year we help conserve valuable environmental resources, now it’s time to focus on biodiversity and the beauty and richness of nature which we all have a communal responsibility to protect.”
Faith Bebbington, the artist who designed and made the tiger said: “I strive to capture movement with my sculptures, whether it’s people running or a tiger stalking its prey. For this commission I have tried to create the feeling that the ‘Tiger’ is moving, capturing both its elegance and power.”
While many of the events across Tiger Tracks will be free, visitors to the station will be encouraged to help tigers by donating funds to the Save Wild Tigers initiative with all profits going to the Born Free Foundation and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) tiger conservation projects. There are an estimated 3,500 tigers left in the wild. If we do nothing wild tigers could be extinct within 10 years. If we act now we can double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.
For more information visit www.veolia.co.uk or join in the conversation on Twitter @Veolia_ES_UK #Veoliatiger.