The Myr Tree

The sculpture was created for anti-littering campaign ‘Love Your Forest’ in the Forest of Dean, run by an environmental charity Hubbub, Suntory Beverage & Food (Ribena, Lucozade, Schweppes) and the Forestry England amongst other organisations. The purpose of this sculpture was to visualise the passage of time by imitating the tree’s growth rings.

Each ring on this tree stump represents how many years the different materials take to biodegrade. For example, one plastic bottle takes around 450 years to decompose in nature – an oak tree would grow up to 2 metres in diameter in that time. The term ‘MYR’ stands for 1 million years – which is how long it takes for glass to biodegrade.

All litter shown in the Myr Tree sculpture was found in the Forest of Dean. The sculpture was on display in the Forest of Dean towns and visitor centres between September 2020 - August 2021.