Stephanie Hongo Uses Old Trash and Turns It Into Impressive Eco-Friendly Animal Pieces

Stephanie Hongo is an American artist living in Connecticut who turns household trash into eco-friendly animal art pieces.

Source: CarversCreators/Youtube

Hongo has been an artist for the majority of her life, but when she started making her trash pieces, she felt more inspired than ever to create art for art’s sake. She uses trash that she finds and that other people give her to make intricate sea animals, jungle animals, and numerous other critters.

When she first started making the pieces, she tried out a wide range of subjects, including animals, flowers, inanimate objects, and even sports logos. However, she felt drawn to just animals and says her favorite things to do are octopuses and animal busts.

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Hongo told PEOPLE that it’s not unusual for her friends to give her bags full of Tupperware lids, empty soap bottles, and even a Barbie leg or two. But Hongo doesn’t need the trash that her friends give her.

“You don’t need to be a dumpster diver to do this,” she said. “Trash is everywhere.”

Hongo first began creating her pieces in 2017 and uses anything from plastic cutlery, old toothbrushes, hair dryers, purses, and plastic tubing. Her very first piece was a blue deer named Yandoo that she made in a makeshift basement art studio and used odds and ends from around her condo. Since then, she has made more than 160 of these impressive trash sculptures.

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Before each of her pieces, Hongo figures out what objects she’ll need to create her realistic animals.

“I think, ‘What would the skull of an elephant look like? Where would the eyes fall in relation to the mouth?’ “she said. “It’s a million moving things at one time, but somehow it eventually ends up cohesive.”

Hongo hopes to inspire others to care about the environment, reuse items, and see how old things most people would see as garbage can turn into something amazing once again!

“I care about our environment,” says Hongo. “The upcycling aspect of it is a lovely byproduct.”

Hongo has built up a following base and feels grateful to be able to do this. She is now fortunate enough to be a trash sculptor full-time. Check out her website and Instagram to follow along with her art!

Globally, we produce 300 million tons of plastic every year, 78 percent of which is NOT reclaimed or recycled. Around  8.8 million tons of plastic get dumped into the oceans every year! 700 marine animals are faced with extinction due to the threat that plastic poses to them in the form of entanglement, Pollution, and ingestion. 50 percent of sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs. By 2050, 99 percent of all seabird species will have ingested plastic waste. According to a study by the World Economic Forum, there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish by 2025, and if things go on business as usual, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.

Read more about how companies like Facebook, Tupperware, Google, Dove,  Budweiser, Carlsberg, and FIJI Water are working towards reducing plastic Pollution. Places around the world like Tel Aviv, California, Baltimore, Scotland, and many more are banning various single-use plastics, and others are coming up with creative ways to recycle and use plastic waste.

There are products you may be using or habits you may have that contribute to plastic Pollution. Learn more about how the use of Teabags, Cotton Swabs, Laundry, Contact Lenses, Glitter, and Sheet Masks pollute our oceans so you can make more informed decisions going forward. There are also numerous simple actions and switches that can help cut plastic out of our lives including, making your own cosmetics, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, household cleaners, using mason jars, reusable bags/bottles/straws, and avoiding microbeads!

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• Art Non-Profit Opening $30M Eco-Friendly Headquarters in Miami

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