Toy Themed Exhibition Sparks Creativity

Parkes Shire’s annual Waste 2 Art Exhibi­tion and Competition officially opened on Saturday 28 June at the Parkes Library and Cultural Centre, with over 100 attend­ees joining Mayor Cr Neil Westcott to cel­ebrate 79 imaginative entries from across the region.

Waste 2 Art is open to all residents of the NetWaste region and showcases creative works made from reused waste materials.

The aim is to challenge peoples’ percep­tions about ‘rubbish’ and to celebrate the reuse and recycling of waste through arts and crafts.

Waste 2 Art provides an innovative ap­proach to waste education, and invites in­dividuals, schools, and community groups to take up the challenge to create a new life for materials that would otherwise have been thrown away or considered useless.

This year’s theme – Toys – encouraged participants to explore how discarded or pre-loved toys can be reinvented, repaired, or repurposed into powerful visual state­ments. Many works delivered strong envi­ronmental messages, highlighting the role we can each play in reducing landfill by re­pairing, reusing, and sharing.

The exhibition will remain on display un­til Thursday 31 July, after which winning works will progress to the Waste 2 Art Re­gional Showcase in Dubbo.

“To everyone who contributed, congratu­lations,” said Mayor Neil Westcott. “This exhibition is a wonderful celebration of creativity, talent, and commitment to sus­tainability in our community.”

We thank all artists, schools, and com­munity groups who participated in this year’s competition. Your creativity and pas­sion are helping to raise awareness about sustainability and the importance of giving waste a second life. We encourage every­one to get involved again next year.

The W2A theme for 2026 will be offi­cially announced at the Regional Waste 2 Art opening which will be on Saturday 27 September at the Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo – and everyone is invited to attend.