Goldsmiths students are baking cakes made from 29 tonnes of carrots dumped on their university campus to raise funds for local food banks.

The pile of veg, an art installation by Spanish-Welsh artist Rafael Perez Evans named Grounding, was installed by a large lorry outside the Ben Pimlott building in New Cross earlier this week.

Ignoring a sign which says the carrots are ‘not for human consumption’, students who believe the artwork is a waste of resources are putting the veg to use, baking vegan cakes which are sold from a stall next to the pile.

Daisy Edwards, a student at the university, said: “Many believe that the carrots are a huge waste of food as most of the vegetables seem fine to eat, and many believe that it is a huge waste of resources in a London borough where 40% of children live under the poverty line.

“An instagram account called @goldsmithscarrots surfaced and received over 1000 followers in a matter of days.

“Their goal? Use the carrots and bake them into cakes, boil them into soups and sell off the fruits of their labours to raise money for local food banks.

“I visited and picked up some of the vegetables and bought some cakes while I was there and it's safe to say: revolution has never tasted so good.”

The artist said the vegetables are unwanted and would not have made it to supermarket shelves, and will eventually be collected as animal feed.

According to Mr Perez Evans' website, the artwork explores "the tensions in visibility between the rural and the city", and was inspired by European farmers dumping produce as a form of protest.

"The therapeutic technique of grounding involves doing activities that 'ground' or electrically reconnect you to the earth," he added.

The work is part of Goldsmiths' MFA degree show.

Despite the carrots apparently being rejected by supermarkets, many students said they felt torn about the dumping of so much edible food.

"Even though the carrots are being donated to farm animals at the end of the piece, it's still slightly problematic given the poverty, food shortages and homelessness in Lewisham," said Lester Langford, 20, who is from Warwickshire and studies history.