If someone tells the members of Burr Elementary School R&S group that they look like trash, they take it as a compliment.

Partnering with Fairfield Warde High School students, Burr Elementary School R&S members in Fairfield, Connecticut, turned common trash into wearable fashion for a special Earth Day "trashy fashion show."

Group leader and second grade teacher Mei-Ling Uliasz shared with her R&S members her own interest in creative recycling projects. She encouraged them to tackle their own creative community recycling project to help spread awareness about the need to reduce, reuse and recycle¿and the idea for the "trashy fashion show" was born!

The R&S members gathered materials from their trash cans at home to create outfits and costumes for the show. The materials included shower curtains, candy wrappers, newspapers, plastic bags, a broken umbrella, garbage bags and much more.

"I shared photos from around the world of how people change trash into treasure like tin cars made of soup cans," said Mei-Ling. "This really sparked the kids' interest. We decided to do a fashion show at the Fairfield Earth Day Celebration."

The R&S group members found out that some area high school students were also planning to do a "trashy fashion show." Nancy Malafatopoulos, head of Family and Consumer Sciences at Warde High School, was teaching two sewing classes on how to make outfits out of recyclable materials.

The high school students joined forces with the Burr R&S members, and students from both schools strutted their creative designs on the catwalk at the Fairfield Earth Day Celebration.

"As the kids walked out, we read scripts that told the student¿s name, what their outfit was made out of and what inspired them to make their outfit," said Mei-Ling. "It ended with a special Earth Day message written by the kids themselves."

One of the more imaginative outfits was created by Giovanni Battimeli. He created a tuxedo out of black and white DSW shoe store shopping bags.

"To help the earth, everyone should recycle," said Giovannie in his Earth Day message.

The "trashy fashion show" was such a crowd-pleaser that Nancy and Mei-Ling have decided to make it an annual feature of the Fairfield Earth Day Celebration.

Check out their "trashy" ensembles.

Learn about more creative projects just like this one in the Roots & Shoots Project Database.