Most trash is destined for some forlorn landfill or recycling center, but when it finds its way into the right hands it can be transformed into something beautiful. Around the globe, from city centers to lonely roadsides, you can find eclectic works of art made from materials that were once discarded as trash or scrap. A few have been so expertly repurposed that they belong in a museum. 

Breighner’s Tire Center in Littlestown, Pennsylvania, is home to a collection of beasts such as a fire-breathing dragon and a horned stag—all made from recycled tires. Farther south, in El Alto, Bolivia, stands a sculpture of a revolutionary composed entirely of scrap metal. The 30-foot-tall Ernesto Che Guevara Statue was crafted by sculptor Felix Duran and is composed mostly of parts of engines, cogs, and wheels. From a West Virginian cowboy made of glass bottles to a giant roadrunner, these are 12 sculptures made of recycled materials.