SYRACUSE (Italy) - WITH work stations made of sturdy recycled cardboard and not a printer in sight, the press corps at Group of Eight climate change talks in Italy were decidedly living green.

Organisers say the 100 chairs and 40 tables in the press centre were built from 800 kilos of cardboard, or the paper equivalent of 4,000 Italian daily newspapers.

The savings in carbon dioxide emissions is estimated at 1.2 tonnes, they said.

The egg-shaped waste bins - divided of course into sections for paper, plastic and general rubbish - were a fine example of Italian design, while outside lifesize plastic blue turtles dotted the lawns, reflecting the talks' logo.

Environment ministers from the Group of Eight wealthy nations and another eight emerging nations were, for their part, holding their talks in the magnificent hall of a newly restored medieval castle, the Castello Maniace, in Syracuse, Sicily. -- AFP