While we all believe in the slogan, 'Repurpose, Reuse, Recyle', few of us take it as seriously as Philadelphia based Leo Sewell, who has made a career out of creating amazing art from items that normally end up in landfill.

Leo's passion for junk art began when he was just eleven years old - Living near the naval docklands in Annapolis, he often came home with loads of junk items. Instead of asking him to get rid of them, his parents challenged Leo to build something using them.

Leo rose to the challenge and started building simple household items like tables and watch cases.

Now, after almost 50 years of 'playing with junk', Leo creates masterpieces that range from the size of a small cat to 40-ft custom installations .

But he still collects his raw materials - discarded plastic, metal and wood, from the street of Philadelphia, moulding them into shape using nuts, bolts and screws.

Over the years, he has become quite famous and his work is now displayed at many musuems and celebrity homes. Even the folks at 'Ripley's Believe it Or Not' are big fans of the junk artist. Over the last 15 years, they have ordered over 40 life-sized sculptures from Leo and say they are one of the biggest draws for their visitors. To check out additional pictures of Leo's work, go to his website at www.leosewell.net.

sources:dailymail.co.uk, airtranmagazine.com