A fantasyland developed by recycling

Recycled and locally sourced materials built this Cinderella display. —RAY B. ZAMBRANO

SAN MANUEL, PANGASINAN—Girls and boys in verdant gardens, thick forests and sparkling castles have transformed the plaza of this agricultural land into a fantasy world, giving a distinct flavor for this year’s Christmas celebration.

Children and children-at-heart have been trooping to the place to relive the ageless stories of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast.

There are also depictions of not-so-old but equally fantastic characters in the animated movie Frozen, Barbie, Shrek, Pokemon and Angry Birds.

What’s remarkable about these characters is that they have been fashioned from recycled and indigenous materials, said Carmencita Sabater, municipal accountant.

Tests of creativity

Sabater said the fantasy characters are entries for a contest that tests the creativity of employees in using local materials. The more recycled materials used, the better, she said.

Cinderella’s glass slippers, which double as a lantern, come from discarded plastic spoons. Her rag dress is made of leaves and her carriage is decorated with pine cones coated with paints of silver and gold, as well as glitter.

In another corner of the plaza, Frozen’s lead character Elsa looks out from an ice castle in a stunning blue gown. She is surrounded by “ice” made of pillow polyester stuffing.

An underwater scene displays Ariel, the Little Mermaid, surrounded by sea creatures like a giant octopus covered in red beans, a seahorse made of white beans, and fish made from plastic bottles.

Snow White in a banig (mat) gown and her seven dwarfs are inside a room walled with egg trays. Just outside is a witch ready to make her life miserable.

The Cheshire Cat grins above a tableau where Alice (Alice in Wonderland) seeks shelter under a giant mushroom made of heat insulator and Styrofoam.

Most versatile

The employees still had to buy mannequins and textiles for gowns, but they used recycled materials in fantastic ways. For instance, coconut shells become mountain walls, and Styrofoam, lined with green paint, is turned into a waterfall. Bottle caps make Peter Pan’s ship as seaworthy as it can get, while oyster shells become corals in the Little Mermaid’s undersea home.

Plastic spoons are the most versatile among the materials used. Aside from turning Cinderella’s slippers into sparkling footwear, the spoons’ hollow parts become leaves of trees and mermaid scales.

The handles are used to decorate Cinderella’s carriage and form part of a wall.

Employees also use wood chips, tree barks, clay, plastic bottles and caps, corn cobs, tree leaves, sacks, newspapers, yarn, cartoons, plastic forks and cups, to transform San Manuel’s plaza into glittery castles and forests where good girls and adventurous boys dwell.