Meet the Judges: Clean Up Australia Schools Litter Sculpture Competition

The Competition is now open to Primary and Secondary students, from schools who have registered to participate in Schools Clean Up Day in 2025. It's an exciting opportunity for students to submit a sculpture made entirely from litter, demonstrating their artistic flare, creativity, and environmental stewardship. This year, students’ work will be assessed by two world renowned figures in the art and environmental advocacy scene.

Let’s meet the judges!

With the submission window now open until March 31, 2025, entries have already started to flow in. So, let’s meet our esteemed judges who will be selecting the 2025 Litter Sculpture primary and secondary school winners, and the runner-up entries! This year’s panel consists of Artist Rox De Luca and Samuel McLennan, Founder of Project Interrupt.

Both judges are renowned in the world of art and environmental activism and have a keen and creative ability to transform litter into powerful art, which will help to guide their decision when crowning this year’s winner of the Litter Sculpture competition.

ROX DE LUCA

Rox de Luca is a Bondi-based artist working on unceded Gadigal land. Her work explores themes around consumption, waste, plastic pollution, and environmental negligence. Her art transforms marine and industrial plastic litter through jewellery-like processes by organising and threading pieces of collected plastics – often arranged by colour – with strings of wire.

In Rox’s practice, previously discarded materials are transformed into sculptures that powerfully evoke and explore ideas around waste and neglect for our natural environment. Her colourful works are strikingly reminiscent of sea creatures and seaweed. Rox’s work emphasises the importance of repurposing materials instead of adding more to an already congested world. Rox has exhibited her art in numerous exhibitions including in 2025 at the Bondi Pavilion Gallery and in 2023 at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery at an exhibition titled Plastic: Unwrapping the World.

SAMUEL MCLENNAN - PROJECT INTERRUPT

Our second judge, Samuel McLennan has built an impressive sailboat made entirely from rubbish by creatively utilising waste from Tasmania’s coasts and waterways. Found materials which are built into the boat include objects such as oyster bags and wheel inner tubes.

Now, after two years of labour, the experienced sailor has set off on a voyage from Tasmania to Sydney, spreading a powerful message of resourcefulness through Project Interrupt, as he seeks to interrupt the human behaviours that result in waste accumulation in our natural environment. Samuel’s vessel is an innovative architectural design which sends waves across the world, as it highlights the scale of marine pollution and the untapped value of waste.

Much like Rox’s art, Samuel’s project emphasises resourcefulness, while encouraging viewers to lead more sustainable lives by repurposing what is already in circulation instead of adding material to an already congested world. Samuel calls this “resource full”.

Both Rox de Luca’s colourful works and the Project Interrupt boat seek to demonstrate what you can achieve with the materials we already have. These judges and their works are big inspirations for our Schools Competition. We hope that the participating schools and students are as excited as we are about the comp!

At Clean Up Australia, we can’t wait to see your creative sculptures made from litter collected at Schools Clean Up Day and other waste materials from around your home and community. It’s time to let your environmental stewardship shine and reimagine waste!