An estimated eight-million metric tonnes of plastic such as plastic bottles, food wrappers, bags, cotton buds and fishing nets is floating in our oceans.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), 95 per cent of the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80-120 billion annually, is lost to the economy and on the current track, there could be more plastics than fish in the ocean (by weight) by 2050. Thankfully, organisations like Keep Wales Tidy in Pembrokeshire are helping to tackle this growing problem at a local level by running beach clean ups. Thanks to an innovative project the waste collected from Freshwater West beach is now being given a second life as part of the world’s first run of recyclable shampoo bottles made from up to 25 per cent recycled beach plastic.

During the month of September, Keep Wales Tidy is running the Be involved, Be proud and Be Tidy campaign to help clean up Wales in one of the country’s biggest clean-up campaigns. Be Tidy gives people of all ages the opportunity to volunteer and get together to help spruce up their local community. The next one at Freshwater West beach, supported by Natural Resources Wales, the National Trust and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, takes place from 11 am - 1 pm on September 30 and local people can help with the clean up by meeting in the Freshwater West beach car park at 11 am. On a typical beach clean-up, the Keep Wales Tidy volunteers collect an average of 100 bags of plastic from the beach with the most common items being plastic bottles, bottle tops, fishing nets and ropes. Degradation of the collected marine plastics caused by the sun, saltwater and sand traditionally meant that whilst the plastics were being removed from local beaches the material couldn’t be recycled and so was ultimately ending up in landfill or incineration.

Thanks to an innovative collaboration between recycling experts TerraCycle, SUEZ and leading shampoo brand Head & Shoulders the collected beach plastics can now be recycled. After Keep Wales Tidy have cleared litter from beaches and waterways, Pembrokeshire council support by collecting, storing and aggregating the waste. TerraCycle then arrange and cover all the logistics costs of shipping the material for processing. All the HDPE plastic is used to make Head & Shoulders new limited edition recyclable shampoo bottles made from up to 25 per cent recycled beach plastic. All other rigid plastics such as PET, LDPE, PP and PS are recycled with TerraCycle’s existing waste streams and will ultimately be given a second life as the likes of benches, waste bins and watering cans.

The waste collected from the Freshwater West beach clean ups will be part of the world’s largest production run of recyclable (PCR) beach plastic. The recycled beach plastic Head & Shoulders bottles will initially be available at retail in France, but it is hoped that this will be extended to include other European countries, including the UK. This is a first major step in establishing a unique supply chain that involves the support of thousands of volunteers and hundreds of charities like Keep Wales Tidy and their respective local authorities in collecting plastic waste found on beaches.

Mari Williams, project officer for Keep Wales Tidy, comments: “We are really excited that thanks to this innovative collaboration between TerraCycle, SUEZ, Head & Shoulders and our coastal local authorities we finally have a way to recycle all the rigid plastics our team of dedicated beach clean-up volunteers clears from Freshwater West beach. Anyone wishing to get take part in the clean-up on tomorrow should meet in the Freshwater West beach main car park at 11 am or see www.keepwalestidy.cymru to find out more about upcoming beach clean-up events.”

Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO and founder, added: “We hope that the launch of Head & Shoulders new recyclable shampoo bottles made from up to 25 per cent recycled beach plastic will not only help to clean up plastic on beaches but also inspire consumers to play their part and recycle their shampoo bottles and prevent more waste landing on beaches. The production of this innovative new recycled shampoo bottle would not be possible without the great work and support of the volunteers from Keep Wales Tidy, Pembrokeshire council and other organisations like them who do such an important job in cleaning up the beaches.”