Wildlife sculptures made from waste go on display

This wild goat is made from parts from a washing machine, cooker, fridge and even a microwave!

You may have heard the phrase, reduce, reuse, recycle.

But what about repurposing rubbish that's been left illegally in public spaces?

This is known as fly-tipping and one artist from Nottinghamshire has decided to turn what has been dumped and littered into something nicer to look at, wildlife sculptures.

Michelle Reader hopes that these sculptures will make people think about the wildlife they are harming when thinking about littering or fly-tipping.

Michelle Reader said: "The early days of the pandemic led to an increase in fly-tipping and littering, as people spent time clearing and cleaning their homes.

"Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust showed me some of the materials that were found on their reserves - a washing machine, rusty bike frame, car tyres - and told me about the increase in litter from picnics."

This is a bearded vulture and was made using discarded materials

So she decided to make the litter and rubbish into something better to look at!

Michelle has a made a number of sculptures inspired by the nature and wildlife around her, including a vulture, a bumblebee and goat which are all on display at her exhibition.

She says that wildlife suffers a lot when people fly-tip and litter, it makes their habitats unsafe places to live.

This is one of Ms Reader's other sculptures. She made it from plastic bottles, shoes, toys and other rubbish that had ended up in rivers! This sculpture was for the National Space Centre in Leicester

In the past Michelle has created artworks to highlight the amount of plastic in the seas and the need to reduce food waste.

Ms Reader says that she gets her ideas from the world around her.

This is the bee!

Her idea for the bumblebee sculpture came after she spent a lot of time in her allotment during the pandemic.

The sculptures in the exhibition will go on display with a film that shows how Michelle created them.

The display will be in the Harley Gallery and Portland Collection Museum at Welbeck, Nottinghamshire.