Youngsters taking part in a beach clean at Porthtowan have turned marine litter into works of art rather than just chucking the waste into the bin.
The event was organised by Fox Club, the junior section of Cornwall Wildlife Trust, with the help of local artist Jo Polack and South West Water.
Jo from St Agnes said: “Nature and environmental issues are fundamental to my own art so helping the next generation to understand that marine plastics is a problem we have to solve is very close to my heart.
"Rather than just have beach litter bagged and binned after a clean up and taken out of sight, working with the beach finds in an artistic way gives each child time to appreciate just how much plastic there is and to see that whilst art is a creative solution to what they have gathered on that day, the real challenge is to prevent it being in the seas and rivers at all”.
The children, aged six and over, let their imaginations run wild as they combined the marine debris they had found on the beach with a felt technique called ‘wet felting, made from sheep’s wool, to make mini hangings, mobiles and pictures.
“Making felt introduces children to working with natural fibres and contrasts well with the marine litter, the majority of which is plastic” said Jo.
The children also had a surprise visit from Delia Woods of the Newquay Beach Combing and Lego Lost at Sea group, who shared some of her magical beach combing finds, one of which is the famous black Lego dragons.
A container filled with millions of Lego pieces fell into the sea off Cornwall in 1997. But instead of remaining at the bottom of the ocean, they are still washing up on Cornish beaches today.
Marine litter is a global environmental problem, over 100,000 marine mammals and over one million seabirds die every year from the ingestion or entanglement of marine litter.
Kirstie Francis, Fox Club Manager at Cornwall Wildlife Trust says, “Marine litter on UK beaches has doubled in the past 15 years. This event was a fun, but educational activity designed to raise awareness amongst the children and their families on the sheer scale of the issue.
"The children produced some brilliant artwork, and at the same time learnt about what they can do to help with this environmental issue. Children represent the future and educating them on the link between our litter issues and marine health is extremely important.
"Thanks to artist Jo Polack, South West Water, and particularly to the Blue Bar who let the children use the boardroom for free”.
For more information on Fox Club aemail foxclub@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk.
To join in Surfers Against Sewage’s Big Spring Beach Campaign visit www.sas.org.uk.
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