By Tian Xuefei and Zhou Huiying

Over the past three years, some primary school students in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province,haveturned recycled waste into various creative handicrafts.

Under the teachers' guidance in the art classes, students from Qunli Zhaolin No 2 Primary School create different artworks such as sculptures, shields, helmets and armor with plastic bottles, cardboard waste and disposable dishware.

"We opened the course in September 2016, aiming to increase the students' awareness of environmental protection, via turning waste into treasure from their childhood," said Yang Dazhi, head of the school's moral education department. "The course has become very popular among students in all the 41 classes in our school."

According to Yang, the creation process is not complicated.

"To make an archaic bronze shield, for instance, a student can use a piece of waste cardboard as the bottom with black acrylic paint painting on it and then glue clay to shape and carve the shield," he said. "Lastly, a layer of gold acrylic paint will be covered to add an artistic metallic texture and the luster of bronze."