The British 1970s kids cartoon characters with a love of recycling, The Wombles, had a motto: "Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish."

Locals can now see this philosophy in action with the best of the best at the 2025 Waste 2 Art Regional Showcase at the Western Plains Cultural Centre (WPCC) until early next month.

The Waste 2 Art Regional Showcase features around 140 artworks from Waste 2 Art competitions held by the 16 participating councils across the NetWaste region.

“This year’s theme for the Waste 2 Art competition was ‘toys’ and it was great to see so many people take up the challenge and create artworks out of materials that might otherwise be thrown away,” Dubbo Mayor Josh Black said.

“The Waste 2 Art Regional Showcase is a great opportunity to see some of the winning entries from council areas that participate in the annual art competition,” he added.

Waste 2 Art is an annual community art exhibition that allows community members from participating council areas to create artworks made from reused and recyclable waste materials.

The results are imaginative and thought-provoking with the artworks showcasing recycling and sustainable living.

Waste 2 Art is always a popular exhibition as visitors enjoy seeing how creative people are with items that would potentially be sent to landfill, council’s curator Kent Buchanan said,

The WPCC will host workshops in conjunction with the Waste 2 Art exhibition, featuring artist Jaq Davies, in October.

There will be two sessions for children during the school holidays on Wednesday, October 8. Another workshop open to the wider community will be held on Sunday, October 19. Workshops are free however, participant numbers are limited and bookings are essential.

Jaq Davies is an Orange-based artist who will guide workshop participants to creatively combine materials channelling their imagination into works of art.