Ballarat Tramway Museum is running workshops at various locations to create flowers from used bottles. 

The idea is to cover a tram with the flowers as a tribute to the decorated trams used during the 1938 and 1939 Ballarat Floral Festivals. 

The tram will be used in the 2019 Begonia Festival.

Floral tram project coordinator Pam Waugh has already collected 3500 plastic flowers since the workshops began in June with about 500 more to come by Christmas.

The number is well above the original minimum target of 3000 flowers and will help create a greater visual effect. 

“Now we can cover more of the tram than I had first planned on, so we’ve had fantastic support from the community – it has just been unbelievable,” Ms Waugh said.

“It is the first floral tram in 80 years. It should look absolutely stunning, colourful, it will be a sight to behold.”

About 20 groups have been involved in the project, while individuals have also played a big role working with friends and colleagues. 

There is also a recycling element to the project, which has the Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group on board, through the reuse of plastics. 

“The original tram was covered in crate paper flowers that had been dipped in wax,” Ms Waugh said. 

“I originally went looking for how to recreate that look and I discovered how to make flowers out of soft drink bottles.

“I had a trial workshop and everybody was rapt at the idea of using rubbish to create something really quirky that will look fantastic.”

Volunteers started collecting waste materials with the question of just how much they would be able to get. 

“People got on board and started saving bottles and bringing them in, I quickly became inundated with rubbish,” Ms Waugh said.

“The project really fired up people’s imaginations and they really enjoyed the craft aspect of turning rubbish into something with a purpose.”

The next floral tram workshop will be held at the Ballarat North Neighbourhood House on Wednesday from 12.30-3pm. All welcome.