Plastic Tubs Creative Reuse

Laundry soap and cooking oil come in heavy-duty plastic tubs or jugs that are tough to recycle – but you can creative reuse them at home and to make art.

Hangers Creative Reuse

Plastic, metal and wooden hangers can all be creatively reused to make furniture, costumes and other art.

Umbrellas Creative Reuse

You can make so many useful items from a broken umbrella, using just the fabric, just the frame, or both!

Dried Paint, Brushes, Cans Creative Reuse

Many paints are made with plastic so let’s find way to reduce our impact, and learn about ways to creatively reuse paint, brushes, graffiti, spray paint cans and more.

Yoga Mats Creative Reuse

Get lots of ideas for how to use your old yoga mats, plus learn about a type of yoga mat made from recycled neoprene wetsuits!

8 Items You Might Not Creative Reuse

Trashmagination is all about encouraging you to creatively reuse found items and recyclables to make art. However, some materials can be hazardous to your health if you don’t take precautions when working with them.

DIY Plastic Recycling

Designers around the world are building machines that allow people to DIY their plastic recycling.

Buttons Creative Reuse

Learn about the incredible ways artists work with buttons and get ideas for creatively reusing your own buttons.

Polystyrene Foam or Styrofoam

Polystyrene foam (more commonly called styrofoam) is notoriously difficult to recycle and awful for the environment, but you can avoid it and reuse it with creative thinking.

Insects and Creative Reuse Art

Creative reuse artists make insect sculptures from recycled materials, while others actually work with live insects to make art.

Plastic Toys Creative Reuse

Get ideas for ways you can divert plastic toys from landfill – either to more children, to artists or to be made into plastic furniture.

Sayaka Ganz, Plasticware Artist

Sayaka Ganz makes giant wildlife sculptures from plastic spatulas, hangers, toys and lots of other plastic items, and she’s one of my top 5 favorite creative reuse artists in the world.

Recycled Art Sculpture Trails

Would you like to attract people to your town to enjoy nature and art? You could organize a recycled art sculpture trail.

Rope Creative Reuse

From shopping bag handles to fishing gear, there is a lot of rope that can be creatively reused!

Igloo from Plastic Jugs

We built an igloo from plastic jugs for Maker Faire NoVa and we used a method no one had used before (zip ties!)

Cosmetics Creative Reuse

Since most cosmetics are sold in plastic packaging and contain toxic chemicals, they can be challenging to creatively reuse, so get ideas for what to do with your expired cosmetics.

Bubble Wrap Creative Reuse

Do you have piles of bubble wrap due to online shopping? Check out what some artists make with bubble wrap!