South Korean retail giant Lotte said Monday it plans to recycle a giant rubber duck figure that had drawn millions of visitors to its Lotte World Mall, which opened last year, and use the parts for customer gifts and art projects.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's rubber duck, standing nearly 20-meters high and weighing seven tons including a concrete anchor and pontoon, was on display on Seokchon Lake in southwestern Seoul in October last year, in time for the retail conglomerate's opening of a skyscraper mall in the area.

While the installation attracted some 5 million visitors with its photogenic presence during its month-long display, critics raised suspicions that Lotte allegedly used it to allay safety concerns over the mall.

As part of the plan to recycle the display, Lotte said it will launch a display titled "Come Swing with Rubber Duck X Fabrikr" where it will install 24 rocking chairs that have been made with parts from the animal figure.

The floor and ceiling of the exhibition venue will be designed to emulate wind and water, so that visitors who sit in the rocking chairs will feel as if they are riding the rubber duck, Lotte said in a press release.

Some parts of the rubber duck will be re-used to make souvenirs for shoppers and will be distributed on a first-come first-served basis next month, it added. (Yonhap)