Local designer issues final call for help to put finishing touches to A Drop in the Ocean beachside art installation.
DESIGNER Irene Soler is asking for volunteers to help thread together more than 9,000 bottle tops to complete the last phase of the A Drop in the Ocean installation along the Volks Railway.
The tops were collected from the city’s seafront between August and October this year by the council’s Cityclean beach-cleaning teams, cafes and kiosks along the seafront, as well as by organised beach cleans and individuals.
They will be added to the 20,000 tops that have already been strung and hung along the beach railings in phases 1 and 2, creating a beautiful and colourful wave effect.
Irene said: “We’ve now collected almost 30,000 bottle tops in total from the beach since March this year. That’s 30,000 bottle tops that have been saved from ending up in the sea and harming or destroying our marine life.
“So far 110 fantastic local people have helped us complete phases one and two of the installation. Now I’m hoping volunteers will come along and assist us to finish off ‘A Drop in the Ocean’ which will finally stretch close to 60 metres along the seafront.”
The workshops will run this week on Thursday 8 and Friday, November 9 and next week on Monday 12, Tuesday 13, Thursday 15 and Friday 16 from 10:30am to 5pm at Volks Railway Visitor Centre, Madeira Drive, Brighton.
Irene added: “The artwork really highlights the huge problem of leaving rubbish on the beach which can easily be blown or dragged into the sea by waves.
“It’s a worrying and depressing fact that 35 per cent of fish off the Brighton coast have plastic in their gut and a massive 80 per cent of ocean plastics come from the land.”
Phase one of the installation was completed in July with more than 9,000 bottle tops used, with phase 2 finishing in October, using another 10,000 tops.
When phase one was launched, some people questioned why plastic was being taken onto the beach, but every one of the bottle tops was collected on the seafront.
The tops are from bottles of milk, fizzy drinks, water, sports drinks and even baby food pouches.
The installation will be completed by the end of this year after phase 3 is finished, and will stay in place until next Spring.