The competition is a project of Netwaste and has been running for 18 years.

Each year a different local council in the Central West is selected to host the awards ceremony and display the entries, plus provide facilities for free workshops with a visiting artist.

In 2022 the event moved to Lithgow, and mayor Maree Statham was on hand to present the awards.

Waste 2 Art has a different theme each year, and this year it was soft plastics.

Aspiring and professional artists were invited to create artworks from materials that would normally be thrown away in the hope that we can raise awareness about the enormous challenges surrounding waste in our society and encourage us all to think about what we can do to try and reduce the amount of waste we create.

"Plastic has transformed our everyday lives but the volume of plastic, and its long lifespan makes it one of our biggest waste problems," NetWaste's Environmental Learning Adviser, Sue Clarke said.

"We produce 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, equating to about 130 kilograms a per person. Of this, only 12 per cent is recovered and up to 130,000 tonnes of plastic will find its way into our waterways and then the ocean each year or end up in parks or along roadsides as litter."

Oberon had seven finalists in the 2022 competition:

Oberon's winner was the Oberon Children's Centre with a highly commended in the Primary 3D category with the entry "Under The Sea".

The Oberon finalists can be seen in the gallery, with descriptions by the artists.

The finalists are on display at the Union Theatre, Bridge Street, Lithgow until August 7.