Plastic model kits are typically injection molded in a single shot, with all of the parts held together in a lattice, known as the runner. (Some call them sprue cards.) For the past six months, Japanese toymaker Bandai has been collecting their customers' stripped runners for a recycling event.

Said event, the Gunpla Recycling Project, was held this month in Shinjuku. Visitors were treated to the site of this 1:1-scale Gundam head, made from 3,000 runners:

Artist Ryotaro Muramatsu used runners to create this "Naked Flowers" installation:

Artist Yoichi Ochiai created "Plastic Hermitage," a freestanding tea room made from runners:

All told, Bandai collected roughly one ton of runners for eventual recycling--and spawned countless user-generated publicity shots on Twitter, under the hashtag #???? ("eco-plastic.")