Making Ornaments From Ocean Plastic in Alaska

This year, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree traveled for more than three weeks across 4,000 miles from the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska for display on the Capitol’s West Lawn in Washington D.C. The 80-foot Sitka spruce, nicknamed “Spruce Wayne,” was handpicked from the small community of Wrangell, located 120 miles from where I live in Sitka.

You may be asking yourself—why are we highlighting this tree from Alaska?

This year’s tree is especially unique due to the ornaments decorating its branches. More than 10,000 ornaments were handmade in Alaska, and among them are several dozen ornaments created from marine debris collected during Ocean Conservancy beach cleanups in Sitka. Over the past year, Ocean Conservancy helped collect more than 145,000 pounds of trash from beaches and waterways in Alaska and the Arctic as part of our ongoing effort to combat plastic pollution in the Arctic.

On September 26, Ocean Conservancy’s staff in Sitka organized a marine debris ornament-making workshop in partnership with the Sitka Sound Science Center and the U.S. Forest Service Sitka Ranger District. About 20 members of the community—including kids and adults—came together to learn about Ocean Conservancy’s work and transformed discarded fishing nets, ropes, buoys and plastic bottles into ornaments shaped like sea creatures and flowers.

This year’s Capitol Christmas tree and the ornaments adorning it are reminders of the connections we share—from the forests of Southeast Alaska to the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.—and highlight the importance of protecting our ocean and environment from plastic pollution. For those of you in D.C. lucky enough to admire the tree this year, keep an eye out for these unique marine debris ornaments created during our workshop, including some I even made myself! And even if you’re not able to see the U.S. Capitol tree in person, we hope this story inspires you to get creative and make eco-friendly or recycled holiday decorations of your own, like an egg carton candy cane, tin can snowmen or other ideas in this ocean-friendly DIY holiday decor guide or design your own ugly holiday sweater.