What started as a school art project could soon be providing practical help to children in need of prosthetic limbs.

Key points: Students in a supported learning unit have been making an artwork out of drink lids

Students in a supported learning unit have been making an artwork out of drink lids Their school received funding for a 'shruder', which can turn plastic into filament for 3D printing

Their school received funding for a 'shruder', which can turn plastic into filament for 3D printing The school is working at using the filament in a 3D printer to make prosthetic limbs

A couple of months ago, Nikki Bawden, head teacher of supported learning at Hastings Secondary College, put out the call for bottle lids from the Port Macquarie community and surrounding areas.

She had seen an artwork made from drink lids — normally considered rubbish — and thought something similar would make a good project for her students.

The local community response was overwhelming, and thanks to the school's science and marine studies teacher, Lloyd Godson, lids left over from the art project will also have a use.

He successfully applied for state government funding for a shruder — a machine that shreds and extrudes marine plastic into reusable items — to turn plastic into filament to be used in a 3D printer.

One item he wants to make with the filament is prosthetic limbs for children.

Lloyd Godson and student Phoebie Brown built the 3D printer that they are using to print prosthetic limbs. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Kerrin Thomas )

"This project was founded by an Australian man who became retrenched from his work," Mr Godson said.

"He set up about 10 3D printers in his garage and started making prosthetic hands for children using his 3D printers.

"We've got our first hand in production at the moment and then we need to be approved as a maker.

"They test that our build quality is sufficient for the end user and then the next step would be to create our own 3D filament through this waste collection and then 3D print the hands from there."

'Next-level revolutionary'

At the moment, the lids need to be sent away to be turned into filament.

The students have started work on creating a prosthetic hand made of recycled plastic. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Kerrin Thomas )

"Rather than sending them to Melbourne, we can actually deal with it on site at the school so it just takes one step out of that process," Mr Godson said.

"We can have the supported learning students sorting the lids into the different colours and different types.

"Then we can pass that onto the next group of students who shred, and then another group [who are] potentially producing projects."

Year 10 student Phoebie Brown helped build the 3D printer and said she wanted to use the recycled filament to make things to help people.

"To have this machine and convert it into something useful like a hand for someone without a hand or something to put in your body to help you live, it's amazing and next-level revolutionary," she said.

Raising awareness through art

The student artwork is nearly ready to hang, as the children work towards sticking the final lids down.

"I'm so pleased with the way it's turned out. It's vibrant and better than we hoped for [and] it's really good," Ms Bawden said.

Misheela Barnes hopes some good has come from people donating their bottle caps to her class. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Kerrin Thomas )

Misheela Barnes said it had been good to use her hands and creating the art had made her think more about the impact of plastic on animals.

"It's like a puzzle for me because you've got to work it out and then, at the end, you've got to work out if you're going to go with that idea or what you're going to do with it in the end," she said.

"Us doing this is probably helping [the animals] and stopping them getting killed by people throwing [plastic] in the ocean."

Max Meredith said the project had opened his eyes about single-use plastics.

"We have a lot of plastic and we could probably to with less and it was really an eye-opener of how much plastic there is in the world," he said.

"We haven't really used much plastic at home. I've used re-useable containers [and] if I have plastic bottles I use them again."