The Recycled Orchestra

While perusing the KYSS FM website this morning, I came across a house adorned with beer cans. This intrigued me, no doubt, so I went on a hunt to find more everyday items made with a twist. Ripley's Believe It or Not always seems to surprise me with the stuff they post from people across the world. After laying my eyes on the beer can house in Texas, I was determined to see what other cool things Ripley's had when it came to recycled materials.

The first thing I came across was the Landfill Harmonic. As if the name wasn't great enough, Ripley's "Weird True Facts" blog really hits home when it explains the reason behind the creation of these recycled instruments:

There is a town in Paraguay that is built on top of a landfill. The residents of Cateurab not only live among the garbage, the garbage is their livelihood. Many who live in the town work as garbage collectors and survive on the trash. They rely on recycling discarded items. Some items they sell, other items they use in their daily lives. Life in Cateurab is not easy. The families that live here are among the poorest in Paraguay and the children do not get many opportunities.

Nicolás Gómez and Favio Chávez live in these conditions and ultimately decided to change the way people — especially children — looked at their way of living. So what do they do? They started a music group.

Gómez and Chávez put the garbage to good use and created musical instruments such as a clarinet and violins in hopes to pick up the spirits of their Paraguay town. It didn't stop there, either! Soon enough, an entire orchestra was born.

To learn more about the Landfill Harmonic, click here.