I would like to share with you great upcycling initiative by UAE artist Anjali Srinivasan who is breathing new life into unwanted glass by turning discarded bottles, jars and even window panes into beautiful ornaments.

The idea is to give people a better option. She always tells people we upcycle your  waste, we make it better.

Her interest in glassmaking started about two decades ago when she studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in her native India. She was given an assignment to design glass tableware which led her to the town of Firozabad, where glass is made on a large scale.

When she visited that town , she found the town actually really scary and the working conditions there were abysmal. Despite the conditions, she was fascinated with 'the beautiful rhythm glass has when it is hot', and decided to find out more creating with it. She soon discovered the work of American glass sculptor Dale Chihuly and contacted him to ask for advice about where she should study glassblowing. He wrote back, giving her some benefit of his experience.

In 2014, she decided to set up shop in Dubai in Al Quoz. It took her almost 12 months to design and build her workshop, which she has called ChoChoMa Studios.

She had to hire an electrical engineer to instal the glassblowing and sculpting equipment she uses to create her works. Her pieces vary from tiles to separation walls and large-scale installations.

She also gives glassmaking classes in basic, one-hour modules to allow students to try relatively simple tasks such as making beads.

She got  150 glass bottles (discarded) from Bianca Mozzarella and Co in Jumeirah and other restaurants, turning what was regarded as waste into decorative ice cream scoops and tumblers.

It is good to see how the trash becomes a treasure.

Glass is one of the easiest items to recycle but tonnes of it still ends up in landfills. Ms Srinivasan hopes to encourage residents to create their own art and stresses the need to act more responsibly with glass waste.