A life-sized rotating trophy titled We Did It was enough to lead Southern Parks and Markets (SPM) to the top prize in the annual Waste to Art Competition staged by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA)

The winners from SPM also performed a song to go with their rotating trophy.

The annual NSWMA Waste to Art Competition was held this year under the theme ‘Recycling Plastic is Fantastic’.

The competition, which was created to promote recycling and reuse of materials, emphasising creativity and innovation, saw entrants from the NSWMA’s four regions.

Community relations manager at the NSWMA Kimberley Blair was pleased with the outcome.

“Waste to Art is an opportunity for us to highlight recycling, responsible use of resources, and sustainable living through creative exploration.

“It also allows us to raise public awareness about recycling, reducing, and reusing of materials while building powerful coalitions between community stakeholders, and that was achieved today. The regions worked very hard and the judges were impressed with the pieces,” said Blair.

Entries were judged based on effective use of recycled/reused material, originality and innovation, creativity and overall presentation.

Doris Gross, director and art district lead at Kingston Creative, indicated that she feels encouraged to reuse and recycl after seeing the wonderful, recycled art pieces and their messages.

“Kingston Creative is impressed by the fact that a Government agency takes on its mandate in such a personal way. The NSWMA’s staff members have shown not only their understanding of their agency’s concern for the environment and the work they do, but they have also shown their creative and artistic side.

“Most impressive were those ideas that can be taken further into the communities, ordinary Jamaicans’ lives and to our children, the next generation. We support empowerment by everyone and teamwork to get our Jamaica to the best place it can be,” said Gross.

In the meantime, Travis Bartley, of the National Environmental and Planning Agency, described the competition as a great display of employee advocacy and collaboration, which are leading tenets of building a sustainable plastic waste management plan.

“Such an initiative, if championed among other stakeholders, can greatly support the Government’s plastic ban campaign, launched in 2019,” said Bartley.