Keep your eyes on the ground for discarded materials to incorporate into a sculpture, turning trash into a work of art. For example, find a rusted pipe and use it for the main support. Attach to it mirrors, colorful plastic containers and other interesting items. Make abstract shapes, or create sculptures that resemble recognizable shapes, such as a person or an animal.
Soda, beer and wine bottles can be recycled and turned into new bottles, but you can also smash them for use in an art project. Place cleaned bottles of various colors in a pillowcase and hit them with a hammer. Carefully rub the pieces of glass with sandpaper until they are smooth. Glue pieces of smooth glass onto a surface, such as a discarded mug or a picture frame to create a mosaic. If you don't want to break and sand your own pieces of glass, find pieces of already smooth recycled glass in a craft store.
Each time you see a bottle cap lying on the street, pick it up and save it to use in a refrigerator magnet art project. Purchase magnets from a craft store. Glue a magnet to the back of each bottle cap. Cut out photos or drawings and glue them to fit inside the inner surface of each bottle cap, which serve as tiny picture frames. Attach the magnets to the outside surface of a refrigerator.
You don't have to rely on your own luck in finding random discarded materials for art projects. Go to the nearest scrap recycling resource site (see Resources) and browse among the treasures that might have otherwise wound up in the scrap heap, including pieces of wood, old buttons, discarded film canisters, rejected wallpaper and flooring samples and scraps of fabric. Get inspiration from the variety of material available to make your own green art project.