All over the world we are being submerged in an ocean of plastic waste. Disposable plastic is sprinkled around our streets and parks, washes down our gutters into rivers and the ocean, washes up on our beaches, destroys environments and kills wildlife.

For over twenty years we have been walking on our beach, remote from any major centre of population, and picking up anything that was not a part of the natural environment. In the last twelve months there has been an explosion of debris, here in a national park, with no suburban dwellings nearby. The varying rhythms of the waves bring in a carefully sifted selection every day. There were always the remains of helium balloons, the long ribbons and broken plastic balloon, there were always a few plastic bags that once contained fishing bait, and the odd plastic bottle. Now the plastic bottles are an epidemic, fishing rubbish proliferates, but more…