INTERNATIONAL: A sculpture of a whale made entirely out of recycled plastic is towering over Soviet-style buildings at Kyiv’s Exhibition Center. Placed on six metal pillars, the one-ton artwork aims to draw people's attention to the importance of environmental protection and recycling.

The masterpiece lights up with multi-coloured lights. It is the country's biggest plastic sculpture weighing approximately 750 kilograms. The artist behind it, Valeriy Korshunov, says around 2,000 people, including students from dozens of Kiev schools, collected plastic waste from the city’s parks and rivers. The plastic was then recycled and turned into parts of the whale’s body attached to a metal frame:

"This is a cool message that a whale made of recycled waste is hanging here in Kyiv, and there will be no other whales here ever, because the Dnipro River is so dirty, you can't swim there. We do not swim there and whales won't. And this symbol of nature can only come to us in this modern shape, made out of metal and recycled plastic. But it's not really bad, because if we start understanding the problem of plastic pollution, we can find the way out of it."

Korshunov says it was important for him to get children involved in the project to help them develop green habits and learn more about sorting waste. He says Ukraine has a huge problem with waste dumping. He plans to install more sculptures in other Ukrainian cities.

^{PHOTO: DRONE FOOTAGE OF WHALE SCULPTURE AT OUTDOOR EXHIBITION CENTRE COMMENTS BY ARTIST VALERIY KORSHUNOV AND PASSERS-BY FILE FOOTAGE OF PLASTIC RECYCLING PROCESS}