Recycled Trash Is Art At This Santa Cruz Exhibit

SANTA CRUZ, CA — Santa Cruz residents discard 252 tons of recycling and 660 tons of trash every week. A fraction of those materials have been transformed into art exhibits and will be on display this month at the fourth annual Santa Cruz Recycled Art Program, or SCRAP, a city program that aims to raise awareness about human consumption and waste.

Six artists were selected to participate in this year's SCRAP, which features themes such as housing, homelessness and "the cultural worship of consumption," according to a city press release. There will be video, photography, a tiny house, jewelry, an alchemists library of tar paper books and more.

Artist Jody Alexander said in the press release that she was shocked by the amount of discarded items at the city's Resource Recovery Center.

"The way in which modern life has created a system in which anything can be easily had, has lessened the worth of everything," she said.

Santa Cruz Waste Reduction Manager Leslie O'Malley urges people to consider "the four 'Rs'" before recycling: refuse, rethink, reduce and reuse.

View the work of Paige Davis, Pamela Dewey, Janet Fine, Angela Gleason and Andrew Purchin on Tuesdays through Saturdays from Dec. 6 to 28, noon to 5 p.m., at R. Blitzer Gallery (2801 Mission St.).