As we get ready to fill our bins with post-Christmas wrappings and discarded boxes, a wood-turner is helping students in the Tees Valley make a craft out of recycling. Ian Lamming reports.

THE pile of rubbish looks familiar enough – it’s like the post-party kitchen scene on a Sunday morning.

Beer cans, cocktail sticks, milk cartons; the conscientious might think to wash them and recycle, but most people are more likely to throw them all in the bin, even if they sit festering and wait a fortnight to be cleared.

But for wood turner Cherie Kemp, the “rubbish” represents raw materials for a staggeringly creative pastime of must-have crafts.

“My dream is to see nothing thrown away at all in Middlesbrough,” says Cherie, who is working as an eco schools officer with Middlesbrough Environment City. “I only put my bin out every three or four weeks and even then it tends to be only half full. The rest is recycled.”

On the table at The King’s Academy, Coulby Newham, is an array of crafts that would make perfect gifts. They may be fashioned from rubbish, but it is impossible to tell.

An African mask belies its origins as an old milk container, while a half finished ring tree started life as a plastic beer bottle. A beer can widget has taken on a new life as a highly decorated and beautiful Christmas tree bauble, while all manner of ornaments, including the cutest of pigs and a rose, are made from junk mail and stale bread.

Cherie is working with students at the academy as part of a week-long enterprise project. Her session is designed to promote social enterprise, businesses that benefit the community.

Sean Ord, head of enterprise specialism at the academy, tells the students: “You have learned that enterprise is often about making a profit, but as you can see from today, it can also be about giving something back.”

Cherie says: “The teachers have been so enthusiastic that it does give me hope that one day Middlesbrough’s bins will be empty. It has become a bit of an obsession with me. I hate throwing anything out – and the craft skills we learn as children often stay with us for life. I love showing the children what can be achieved. You do have to be patient and imaginative, but the results can be fantastic.”

Student Alex Watson, 11, says: “It is absolutely incredible what you can make from what we always thought was rubbish. It is great fun and the rewards are two-fold as by doing this you are also protecting the environment for future generations.”

As the students tidy away, it is obvious they have learned some important lessons. One girl hands in a clutch of unused cocktail sticks saying: “Here you are Miss, you might be able to use these again”.

And she will. “Even the material printed for the session today will find a use in the future,” Cherie says. “I’ll shred it and then it could end up being an ornamental pig or a bird.”