Lismore City Council has unveiled its 2025 Community Upcycled Christmas Tree, marking ten years since staff first began building large-scale upcycled trees in the central business district.
The tree, on the corner of Keen and Magellan streets, features more than 150 upcycled kerbside bin lids, mostly yellow, wrapped in fairy lights and decorated with recycled toys from the Revolve Shop.
Since 2015, council staff have turned everything from old bikes and tyres to road signs, umbrellas, potted plants, recycled drums and hundreds of plastic bottles into Christmas trees, each one built from materials recovered through local waste and recycling services.
Lismore City Council General Manager Eber Butron said the project has been a rare mix of creativity, engineering and civic pride.
“This tree began as a simple idea, staff volunteering to give something back to the community, and it has grown into a decade-long showcase of what a circular economy looks like when you take it seriously,” he said.
“Thank you to the 2025 team of staff who, in their own time, put this together and join other staff members over the years who have welded, painted, wired or dragged materials out of the recycling stream to make Christmas in Lismore unique.”
Council’s Infrastructure Project Manager Martin Soutar, who led this year’s team, said this year’s multi-coloured bin lid design is a deliberate full circle moment.
“We wanted the tenth tree to be a fun yet blunt reminder that what goes in your kerbside recycling bin matters,” he said. “We need to limit what goes into the red bin and maximise what we recycle into the green and yellow bins.
“We hope the community enjoys the design, has a fantastic festive season and makes sure Christmas and holiday season packaging ends up in the right bin.”
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