One man's litter is another man's...giraffe!
01 September 2010
An artistic litter picker has found a creative use for the cigarette packets that blight our streets.
Derek Fitton uses the discarded fag packets to build giant animal sculptures – including a life size baby giraffe and an elephant.
Derek cuts up the boxes he finds in the street and weaves the cardboard strips into three-dimensional beasts.
Derek, from Hyde in Tameside, said:?"I’ve got dogs, a couple of lions, a kangaroo, a big giraffe and I’m currently working on a gorilla that’s going to be as big as me.
"I couldn’t even guess how many cigarette packets have gone into them."
Unemployed Derek collects the packets while out walking his dog and regularly collects up to 50 packets in half an hour.
He said:?"I do sometimes think about the effect on the environment. I’ve got that many plastic bags full of boxes and that’s just the start of what’s out there.
"If I wasn’t turning them into animals, they’d have to go somewhere."
Nicola Peate from Keep Britain tidy said: “We are delighted that Derek has found such a fun and artistic way to deal with the problem of cigarette packets that litter our streets.
“It is clear from the number of animals that Derek has been able to produce that this is a real problem.
“It’s not only the packets that get dropped but cigarette butts too and not every area has a talent like Derek to pick them up.
“We encourage people to bin their cigarette litter – or take their boxes home and have a go at making their own animals!”