'Rubbish hotel' opens in Madrid‎

A hotel made entirely of rubbish has opened in the Spanish capital, Madrid. The walls of the Beach Garbage Hotel are covered with detritus deposited by the tide in Europe, waste found at dumps and items bought at flea markets.

German artist Ha Schult built the five-bedroom hotel in the central Plaza de Callao as part of the city's hosting of the International Tourism Fair (Fitur). Schult said he hoped to draw attention to the massive amount of waste generated by mass tourism in Europe.

"I created the Beach Garbage Hotel because the oceans of our planet are the biggest garbage dump," he said. About 30% to 40% of the objects found in the temporary guesthouse were found on beaches in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Rose Piqueras, a spokeswoman for the project, said the aim was to show something contrasting with the pictures painted by the tourism industry. "We wanted to show what our holidays could become if we don't clean our beaches," she said, adding that the beaches of southern Italy were worst.

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