Artists are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to being green. But budding art students from the University of South Wales prove that they really are one step ahead by turning everyday trash into creative treasures in their latest recyclability project.

Students from the Faculty of Creative Industries at USW teamed up with Wales’ leading waste management company, Newport-based GD Environmental, to deliver the eco-friendly project.

The students used creativity to improve sustainability through the concept of ‘Up-cycling’, which has enabled resourceful students to turn everyday trash into creative pieces of modern day art.

There seems to be no end to what kind of art you can create out of discarded trash.

Jeremy Spencer, course leader at USW, said: “GD Environmental Services deliver an Aladdin’s Cave of recycled materials for the students to work with. The students have given a new life to discarded material to produce a wide variety of outcomes including furniture, photography equipment, lighting, costume and illustrations. The results were very thought provoking and questions just how much of the world’s limited resources we don’t take full use of.”

With the UK generating in excess of 290 million tonnes of waste per year, GD Environmental processes up-to 75,000 tonnes of waste per annum of which 100 per cent is diverted from landfill to recycling or recovery.

GD Environmental plans to support the work of budding art students well into the future by continuing to provide students with one of the most cost-effective materials to work with - trash.