In the spring of 2005, a performance piece called 'The Litter Quilt' was created by a group of Fine Art students at Brookes University, Oxford.
The work highlighted the problem of litter, both the effect on the student campus and its residents, and the environmental issues of non-recyclable food packaging and disposal.
A visual connection was noticed between the graphic simplicity of collected crisp and confectionary packaging and the folkish style of quilting. This, as well as the community aspect of quilting bees, inspired the creation of a massive blanket of confectionery packets which the group stitched together.
This became the central part of a performance piece in which viewers were invited follow a trail of litter, picking-up it up as they walked, which led them to the site of the quilt. The quilt was then publicly unfolded and carried through the campus to be disposed of in the university's compressor skip.
Although the quilt itself could not be recycled, Brookes University provides recycling facilities for glass, paper and cardboard on campus and there is apparently one recycling bin for aluminium in the canteen.
