(ZHANG CHUNLEI)

On March 11, an environmental protection volunteer works on a special tree made of recycled disposable chopsticks.

Many "chopstick trees" were on display that day at an environmental protection exhibition in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, as part of the 2012 Earth Hour activities. The exhibition aims to remind people of the importance of environmental protection. In China, 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used every year, equal to 1.66 million cubic meters of wood.