The Science Museum in London is planning a rubbish new exhibition – based on the amount of refuse it throws out every month.

It is teaming up with artist Joshua Sofaer and asking visitors to help collect, sort and document the rubbish generated at the London museum over 30 days.

The rubbish will be photographed before it is taken away for recycling or used to generate electricity with some of it brought back to the museum at regular intervals.

Sofaer said: “Museums generally display items that have some special status, that are rare, or valuable. But in this project, I want to give the ‘museum treatment’ to the stuff it would normally throw away. I think it is brave of the Science Museum to allow this project to happen. Actually, I can’t quite believe that they have.

“We will be able to see exactly what a giant museum throws out in an average month and learn something about what happens to it when it leaves the building. It’s already been an extraordinary process learning more about the different waste streams. I would urge people to come and get stuck in and open up a bin bag. Remember: disposal is the last resort.”

The exhibition is part of the museum Climate Changing programme – a series of events and exhibition about the environment and runs from June 16 to September 14.