The opening of the 2025 Waste to Art exhibition and announcement of winners was a wonderful celebration of local art and creativity.

In Australia more than 27 million toys are thrown out to land fill each year, and highlighting this with Waste to Art gives alternatives of recycling, passing on and reusing some of these toys to lessen the impact.

Parkes Mayor Neil Westcott opened the exhibition, admiring the stories behind each of the artworks.

A total of 79 works were on display, and 90 per cent of these embraced the 2025 theme Toys.

Major award winners included:

Yearly theme Toys - Middleton Public School Year 2 Dolphins - Hey Little Ant

Scrap Metal - Glenn Sloan for Metal Rob

Environment Award - Deb Jones and Helen Standen for Refuse and Stop the Flow

Packers Prize - Michelle Hazelton for Upcycle for a Better World

Take the challenge Award - Helen Standen for I Give a Crap