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Discarded waste recently found fresh purpose during a community contest.
Brooklands Retirement Village residents have been taking part in a recycling competition, transforming discarded items into clever creations across three categories of useful, wearable or art.
Village resident Noeline Burden organised the event to encourage people to rethink waste while enjoying themselves.
“Just to make people realise they can use things again,” Ms Burden said.
“They have really got into it.
“Everything here has been recycled.”
There were more than 40 entries, rescuing rubbish from the scrap heap to create inventive works of art.
Items on display included a wine bottle converted into a chalice, colourful animal planters made from soft drink containers, a noughts and crosses game and a turned timber Christmas tree.
Other residents crafted a naturalised hexagon puzzle, recycled an old book into a Christmas table decoration and created a decorative wall feature from a variety of found wood.
Resident Blue Heard built a “Power Flower’’ sculpture.
“I got some old plug tops with flexes on them and made it into a tree,” Mr Heard said.
The village groundsman and maintenance overseer helped him retrieve electrical parts before they were thrown away.
His striking invention was a nod to his former career.
“Yeah, I was a sparky,” Mr Heard said.
His wife Liz Heard created the “Stick Brothers” and their dog Woof using fallen branches and knitted garments.
“I just got random sticks, one with arms going up, one with arms going down and one with a big nose,” Mrs Heard said.
“I had some spinning and dyeing samples of little balls, so I made wee jerseys for them.
“I did a wee dog as well.”
Keep Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Kelsey Porter and Enviro NZ education officer Rowan Cooke judged the entries.
Ms Porter said she was impressed by the quality of the work.
“I think there’s a ton of creativity,” Ms Porter said.
“Some of the sewing projects were very intricate and required significant time and effort.”
Mr Cooke said some of the items represented a lifetime of experience.
“They are very impressive, you can see people have brought their woodworking skills or their sewing skills,” Mr Cooke said.
He favoured entries that made use of items with no obvious second life.
“One of the things I like particularly is when people use something that doesn’t have another life.”
He enjoyed seeing hard-to-reuse materials saved from landfill and turned into practical objects.
The winning judges’ entry in the Wearable category was Ro Roney for a waterproof vest, in the art category Blue Heard won for his Power Flower tree and Anne Grant won the Useful category for ‘2 Little Bears’.
Ms Burden thanked Mosgiel businesses Nellies Restaurant and Bar, Mitre 10, Gordon Rd Unichem, Rosies, Willow and Silk, Topiary Cafe and Blend Espresso for their support and providing prizes.
sam.henderson@thestar.co.nz
