Elephant dung diaries and handbags fashioned from juice cartons may sound unlikely, but they really do exist.

They feature among a range of goods that started life as something else and could have ended up on a rubbish dump somewhere.

Shoppers in Colchester are being persuaded to close the recycle loop by buying things made of recyclable rubbish, in addition to collecting the materials needed to manufacture them.

As part of Recycle Now Week, which runs until Friday, Colchester Council staff took their mobile exhibition unit to Culver Street East.

There, visitors could pick up promotional leaflets and inspect not only the diaries and handbags, but coasters made from toothbrushes and rubber boots, glasses that were once bottles and Christmas decorations of old CDs.

They also met residents taking part in the authority's Rubbish Recyclers' programme, which involves five households doing their best to reduce, reuse and recycle.

The six-week scheme, which included workshops and visits to landfill sites, ends on Thursday with a presentation at the town hall.