Guy Collects 35 Bags Of Microplastics On The Beach In Just One Day, Turns It Into Art
Back in April, Rob Arnold from Rame Peninsula Beach Care team went for a regular stroll on the usually beautiful Tregantle beach, UK, but instead of calming scenery, he found a blanket of microplastics covering the whole shoreline.
“I am fairly used to it as I have been doing it for four years, but the way it was this time was a shock to me, it was desperate,” Rob told Cornwall Live. “I really felt it had gone too far, and it may be too late to help with the ocean pollution, but I thought we might as well try. It was like the ocean had vomited the plastic waste out and presented it to us, and I felt it was our duty to clean it up.”
So Rob started cleaning, and with the help of local volunteers, he managed to scavenge around 35 bags of plastic from the ocean, among which he found a battalion of plastic toy soldiers, a collection of LEGO diving tanks and flippers, and many many more random artifacts, most of which are made out of plastic.
But when Rob is done picking all that stuff off the beach, it doesn’t simply end there. To make the problem of trashing our oceans more visible, he repurposes the rubbish he finds into art projects that you can now witness in an exhibition in Liskeard Museum. It’s a part of The Plastic Age exhibition, which also features contributions from Tracey Williams of Lego Lost at Sea, Michelle Costello of Smartie Lids on the Beach and Louise Slee of Tregantle Beach Treasures, Trinkets and Trash.
Scroll down to see the clever ways these artists are battling the plastic pollution in the ocean below!
(h/t: demilked)
That’s what Rob Arnold found while visiting the usually beautiful Tregantle beach
A blanket of microplastics covering the shoreline
So Rob and a group of volunteers started cleaning…
And in one day they managed to scavenge 35 bags of trash
“I am fairly used to it as I have been doing it for four years, but the way it was this time was a shock to me, it was desperate”
Among the trash, Rob found all kinds of stuff, most of which was plastic
Like a battalion of toy soldiers
And a collection of LEGO diving flippers
All of which get a new life in Rob’s hands, who is also a local artist on the side
Who turns the trash found on the beaches into artistic sculptures
Which are now being exposed in the Plastic Age exposition at Liskeard Museum
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This would be a great subject for an arts class, or course, where the students go out and collect the plastic from the beach, and then use it to create nice artwork. Each student could make one or more hand carved casts and then pour the melted plastic into molds. All this plastic could be reused for useful art.
This is horrible. Never mind the ruined beach. Imagine the sea creatures, the life-forms that are choking on these thousands of buttons, sharp needle points of plastics jamming in the gills of fish, into the eyes of turtles. Filling up and twisting in the stomachs of seabirds, until they starve for the lack of space for real sustenance. I appreciate what this guy is trying to do. But this isn't about pretty pictures, this should activate our conscience about the burden of plastic pollution in our oceans.
This would be a great subject for an arts class, or course, where the students go out and collect the plastic from the beach, and then use it to create nice artwork. Each student could make one or more hand carved casts and then pour the melted plastic into molds. All this plastic could be reused for useful art.
This is horrible. Never mind the ruined beach. Imagine the sea creatures, the life-forms that are choking on these thousands of buttons, sharp needle points of plastics jamming in the gills of fish, into the eyes of turtles. Filling up and twisting in the stomachs of seabirds, until they starve for the lack of space for real sustenance. I appreciate what this guy is trying to do. But this isn't about pretty pictures, this should activate our conscience about the burden of plastic pollution in our oceans.
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