Big fish aiming to reduce plastic waste at beach

A big fish sculpture is heading to a beach as part of a project to raise awareness of ocean pollution caused by litter.

The metal design from the team at The Guernsey Institute features a mouth acting as a bin for people to feed empty plastic bottles through to help minimise waste.

Isabella Batiste, Katy Allsopp and Joe Mann said a lot of planning and prototypes were made before heading into the workshop to weld the pieces of metal together.

The initiative aims to help educate people on the impact plastic pollution has on the environment and creatures in the ocean. The beach where the sculpture will be placed is still to be decided.

Listen to the latest news for Guernsey

Graphic design student Allsopp said: "It's a visual reminder where you put the plastic bottles in the fishes mouth to fill it up which has a literal depiction of what's going on in the sea."

The students said the idea stemmed from a child's drawing which was mocked up as a 3D model before the team created the design over a four-month period.

They had to go back and make changes to ensure plastic bottles did not fall through the shapes in the fish.

The sculpture is being sent to the UK to be galvanised - where it is dipped in zinc to avoid rust and corrosion and smoothen out the tack welds - before it returns to Guernsey.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Plastic still biggest pollutant on island beaches

Plastic makes up 82% of litter on Guernsey beaches