The large, framed 3-D collage depicting scenes from the Howl's Moving Castle. Photo: screenshot of video posted by the Paper

Students at a design school in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province had a lot of materials to work with after the world's largest online shopping spree. They used the cardboard packaging their purchases delivered in to make something creative. 

Four of the students made a large, framed 3-D collage depicting scenes from the 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film Howl's Moving Castle.  They meticulously cut out and folded pieces of cardboard to represent the castle, characters, various scenes and even the weather as depicted in the film.  The result is an intricate panorama that can be hung on the wall. 

Other students used different types of cardboard packaging to make various objects including scale models of a piano, a cosmetics box and a Ferris wheel.

Netizens on Chinese social media were amused by the creative designs and applauded the design contest held by a public benefit platform which many said expressed the spirit of recycling and waste reduction.

Over 500 million consumers shopped on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms on November 11, the humongous, annual shopping binge.

Chinese courier companies and e-commerce platforms have pledged to reduce the use of packaging materials, but a complete recycling chain for the industry and more stringent regulations are still needed to green the industry, say environmentalists.