What do 3 tons of garbage look like?  If you are Angela Haseltine Pozzi, you turn this trash into sculptures that draw attention to the problem of plastic pollution. Unlike other artists that work with plastic beach debris, she doesn't cut everything up into tiny, beautiful pieces so you don't know where this plastic came from - you can see each piece of plastic for what it is - and you know that it was purchased by someone. A jelly fish made of discarded water bottles, a fish made of flip flops, coral made from styrofoam... you get the idea... Each one of us has a hand in creating the plastic pollution that affects every beach in the world.

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  • Karen Leary

    Angela, how exciting to see what you're doing! Such amazing art and such a worthwhile project. Thank you!

  • DeeDee

    This reminded me of something I used to do quite a bit. If I had something that needed to be throw away because is was cracked or broken, I'd often find someplace in my yard to bury it. Not everything, of course, but something that strikes me as a potential "artifact."

  • Gina Ward

    I am an art teacher in Stavanger, Norway and I have run a unit in my MYP 3 class for the past 2 years called waste not want not, which asks the students to create a piece of art using only recycled materials which has a social message behind it. This clip is a perfect example of that and it will be a great tool to use to help create enthusiasm and understanding in my students. Thank you.

  • Laura

    The beaches at South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii are littered with flotsam and jetsam from the world over. The effort to get to the beaches is remarkable, hours of driving on four wheel drive "roads" to clean up the trash deposited from the highways of the ocean. The birds living on outer Hawaiian Islands are dying from eating plastic, their decomposed tiny bodies a bundle of bones and feathers with plastic debris where their stomach should be. Thank you Angela for sharing the trash in a colorful and inspiring display.

  • David Pu'u

    I spend a LOT of time in the ocean. All over the world. NONE of my beaches are full of plastic litter. It simply for the most part, does not exist, as California does a pretty reasonable job of attending to litter. Indonesia, Asia, developing nations? That is another story.It is endemic there. I find it alarming that we would encourage this sort of messaging in our children. However, I love the art. It really is fantastic. But the messaging is remarkably misleading. "Affecting every beach in the world. Plastic is forever" Those statements are incredibly inaccurate. Or maybe I am just swimming and surfing the "wrong" beaches. Bottom line, send the right message. That could and maybe should be: The ocean is beautiful and the source of life. WE can be a solution simply by leaving a shallower, more thoughtful footprint and introducing people to the sea. It is not full of trash. But it could be.

  • Leslie

    What happens to all this plastic after the exhibition is over? The message is to reduce consumption and not to glorify the re-purposing of plastic trash...not the message we need.

  • Leslie

    I don't think we should make the things we want to rid the world of so beautiful and attractive. Counter-intuitive.

  • Laveille Voss

    It will take the creativity from ALL of us to save our planet, whether it is to minimize consumption and/ or to reuse these products. Thank you Angela for putting a microscope to the horrors that mindless consumerism has created.

  • ellen

    The innovative way in which Angela was able to create these marvelous works. I would call it Beauty and the Beast....us being the beasts. The beasts who litter and discard and have no thought as to the impact of what happens when we litter. Hopefully the children will learn to better care for our environment ... and perhaps some adults will take note as well. Thank you Angela!

  • Amy

    Beautiful work,....I wish you could run out of material to make these sculptures.

  • David Wood

    the beauty of the collected items and the message it sends out...great job and very educational........

  • Hank Visser

    I am am very disappointed in the mess left by the folks visiting her beach allowing the "art works" she displays! It makes me very proud of the folks visiting the Sleeping Bear Lakeshore in Northern Michigan who leave so little behind, that my visits cleaning up any refuse leaves me with little to dispose of.

  • Deven P Shah

    How innovative way to build awareness. The message drove home for me - don't litter plastics, there is a real price to pay for that. Thanks, Deven

  • Loni

    What a great way to recycle and give awareness! Loni T

  • Moana Beamer

    The imagination, willing hands, attention to detail and deep potential of the whole project to educate, demonstrate the collective power of decisions we all make, habitually, most often unconsciously, each and every day.

  • Judy Grosch

    I liked tha tangability of the message. I wish that she had aslo said that this plastic is made of oil and that we fight wars to get the oil to make plastic items that are thendiscarded as agarbage. Judy G. Germany

  • April B

    the visual impact of all this plastic is clearly seen. It horrified me to think of all that stuff on our beautiful beaches. It also showed what one woman, with the help of many can help make an awareness in our people (me), of what they are doing to contribute to this mess.

  • Kristin Pedemonti

    Powerful. Especially inspired that Angela created the very creatures most directly affected by the plastic debris in our oceans. Every one of us Can make a difference my using less plastic and understanding we never throw anything "away" it all goes somewhere. Kudos on beautiful art with a Powerful, Impactful message!

  • bharati dalal

    First of all there were nice art pieces with beautiful colours,3 dimensional effect & nice transperancy & semi transperancy which makes it delicate.Secondly & most important they have converted dirty place into clean place .they have created BEST out of WASTE.Amazingly beautiful sculptures!This is a big inspiration to children,teachers,civic authorities,active citizens............great work!!1it realy touched my heart.barati dalal.

  • Brian

    Thanks Guys. Yup, everything has an effect...keep hope alive...peace

  • pat

    I am inspired by the fact that every person can create time and make it a priority to pick up discarded items that find their way to beaches or sidewalks or roads.

  • Sheila Edwards

    This is a very inspiring video. The interactive artwork really grabs people's attention and makes them look at and begin to appreciate what we are thoughtlessly doing to our environment.

  • Katherina Koller

     Yes, …Everything inspired me in this video message; the art the community, the children, our vision for new future and using beauty to open hearts to get REAL and to take collective responsibility not just for our own garbage, but the TRUE and sad impact our carelessness creates for all habitat. Human, Animal, Earth and most of all our future of our species health. IT'S REAL, it is HERE and it deserved our LOVE INTO ACTION that is demonstrated. Gratitude to the whole town;s collective effort in using ART as a messenger for more coherent LOVE on Earth at this delicate lifetime to see what and how we are create forth in benefiting all. Bravo.

  • orpha wilson

    That is awesome and a wonderful way to teach~it should be in all classrooms for all ages~never stop building the art and show the new art every year until it goes away~ :)

  • Marianne Steenvoorden

    It is amazing what we do and what we could do to prevent this. Even just taking care of your own waste.

  • Geri Taran

    It offers people the opportunity to become more aware of how vast and serious the trash-in-the-oceans has become and what a serious threat it is to marine life.

  • Page 1

  • Learn more about the Washed Ashore Project, which seeks to educate and create awareness of marine debris and plastic pollution through art.
  • Watch One Beach, a film about 5 individuals and organizations that are caring for their "one" beach with creative solutions to the problems of plastic debris.
  • Think about ways in which you can "upcycle" household waste. Need ideas?  Here are 45 ways to reuse plastic water bottles.

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