Art using "found objects" has been around for a long time.
The day care center that my children inhabited when they were pre-school age was operated by a research center in the "University City" neighborhood of Philadelphia. The owner was very much an art afficianado and he commissioned a mosaic that covered an entire side of the building, made entirely from objects found on the streets of the neighborhood.
Abstract, of course, but with recognizable geometric shapes like car wheels and partial faces made from bits of glass and metal. It was magnificent. Truly beautiful. And what a great thing for the children to be able to look at and touch.
This is recycling of a sort
and also an ecological statement (imo) about what we consider 'trash.'
My cousin is a carpenter and cabinet maker. He has his own business now doing custom woodworking but for years he worked for one of those do-it-yourself home repair stores, and in his spare time he would comb landfills for discarded wood and use it to make jewelry and jewelry boxes.
Beer palettes are made out of solid mahogany, if you can imagine that, and then discarded in land fills when the slats crack. I have a collection of really gorgeous jewelry boxes that my cousin made out of precious woods found in landfills. I absolutely treasure these - one, because I'm related to the artist, and two, because they do make a profound statement about our values.
Jn