AS regular readers of this column know only too well, I’m a big fan of recycling. If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only ones: my daughters can finish the punchlines of my one-liners before I’ve even finished the set-up. But while they might think I’m just telling them bad Dad jokes, in fact it’s all part of a carefully concerted plan to teach them about the importance of reusing materials to help save the planet.

Someone who uses recycled material for somewhat higher artistic purposes is the artist and sculptor Ptolemy Elrington. Ptolemy is one of a number of artists to feature in Recreate, a newly opened exhibition at Fisherton Mill. The idea behind the exhibition is a simple but powerful one – to showcase works of art made purely from recycled material.

Other artists featured include Tom Sibbick, who makes robot sculptures from scrap metal, and Julie Windsor, whose remarkable bird silhouettes are made from wire and recycled copper, suspended from driftwood that she finds on the beach.

Ptolemy’s recycled material of choice is the humble hubcap. The original idea for his work came from when he was an art student, living in a house on a sharp road bend. As the hubcaps piled up outside, Ptolemy decided that rather than them ending up in landfill, he’d make something out of them.

His original plan was to turn them into a suit of armour, but then, in the hubcap designs, he saw what looked like fish mouths and fins. From here, he created his first hubcap creatures, with his work developing, evolution-style, from fish to all sorts of animals.

Today Ptolemy has a workshop piled high with hubcaps: indeed, as we spoke while he was out driving, he paused as he spotted another piece of art material at the side of the road. Although Ptolemy occasionally branches out to other recycled materials – he has used shopping trolleys and even made a dinosaur out of bicycle frames – it is the hubcap that remains at the heart of what he does.

As Ptolemy explained, there’s something out the discarded feel that gives the pieces authenticity – the more marked the hubcap, the better. The resulting creatures that he has created are spectacular, and well worth dropping in to Fisherton Mill to see.

Whether it is coincidence or Fisherton Mill being canny, this week also sees a welcome change in Wiltshire Council’s recycling policy. The roadside collection of plastics has finally expanded to match that of other counties by including margarine tubs, drinks cartons and the like.

So even if you’re not feeling artistically inspired, at least you now know where to put the stuff!

Recreate is on at Fisherton Mill until 1 September.