Bottle top bunting to hang around St. Aubin's harbour to highlight pollution

Saturday 24 February 2018

A local eco-warrior has partnered with environmentalists from the UK and the St. Aubin's Harbour Gallery to create bottle top bunting, which will hang on the railings around the harbour, in a bid to highlight the volume of marine debris and bottle tops that wash up on Jersey's beaches.

Sheena Brockie, the woman behind the Good Jersey Life blog and one of many behind the #plasticfreejersey campaign, is calling on to islanders to keep any bottle tops found on local beaches to help create the bunting.

The bottle tops need to be from the beach, not tops from bottles emptied at home. From 27 February, a collection point will be set up at The Harbour Gallery. The bottle tops will be wired together and strung along the railings from the Old Court House around to The Boat House and the end of the pier. It is hoped they will stay there for the whole summer.

Pat Robson, from the Harbour Gallery, explained that the idea came from discussions with staff and volunteers at the Gallery. She said: "In June 2017, we got together to discuss the 2018 exhibition programme and came up with the name,'All Washed Up'. Little did we know at the time how topical this title would be in 2018. What was going to be a summer exhibition opening on 12 July has now become a much bigger event starting in May with talks and workshops with Jo Atherton and Anne Baker."

Hazel McLaren, the owner of the wool and yarn shop located inside the Harbour Gallery, suggested that artist Jo Atherton and change consultant, scientist, educator and ocean advocate Anne Baker should be involved in the project. Ms McLaren says she has long admired Jo Atherton's 'flotsam weaving' which only uses material found on the UK coast. Ms Baker is currently involved in 'Plastic free Devon', 'Plastic free Exeter' and a pop-up shop promoting plastic-free lifestyles. She also helps businesses, schools and communities to understand how they can benefit from and contribute to reducing plastic in the environment. 

Ms McLaren said: "When I heard about 'All washed Up,' I knew straight away that Anne Baker and Jo Atherton would be the ideal people to be involved with a workshop weekend I was planning as a pre-exhibition opportunity to get people in the mood. They will be on the island from 8 to 13 May. During the first three days, they will be available to give talks, presentations and workshops with the rest of their day focusing on events at the Harbour Gallery.

Pictured: Sections of the Great Cornish bottle top chain. (Anne Baker)

After hearing that Ms Robson and McLaren had planned workshops and exhibitions on plastic pollution, Sheena Brockie saw the"perfect chance" for a collaboration. After cutting down her own plastic use and encouraging pubs and restaurants to bin plastic straws for good, she joined the team behind the #plasticfreejersey campaign. Following an initiative from Surfers Against Sewage, aimed at getting large swathes of the UK coast designated as Plastic Free Coastline, Jersey’s Environment Minister, Deputy Steve Luce teamed up with environment campaigners in a bid to make Jersey a largest plastic-free community. 

Ms Brockie said: "I beach clean on a regular basis - It’s actually quite addictive and immensely satisfying on a personal level. The lowly bottle-top is one of the most consistent polluters in local waters, and I wanted to find a way of showcasing a visual example of the pollution at a local level - one we can all relate to - and given that the majority of people come into contact with plastic bottles and bottle-tops on a day to day basis, it seemed like a perfect example to show.

"After speaking to Pat and Heather, it seemed like the perfect chance to collaborate on an art project to highlight the local pollution - and so the idea for creating a bottle-top bunting was born. We are hoping that as the length of the bunting grows, it will help people understand the scale of the problem in local waters and hopefully encourage discussions about the damage caused by single use plastics, the alternative choices available - and encourage individuals, families, community groups, event organizers, schools and business come and sign up to be part of the #plasticfreejersey campaign."