A Pembrokeshire project raising awareness of plastic pollution of our seas is sending a heartfelt message to draw attention to the issue, whilst offering a prize as part of a competition.

The Beach Heart Project in Saundersfoot is asking members of the public to keep an eye out for colourful hearts popping up in the village’s shop windows! There are 12 hearts to be found, all made from plastics that had washed up on Saundersfoot’s beaches.

If you find the 12 coloured hearts hidden in shopfronts, write the name of the shop next to their heart colour on and entry form that can be picked up in the seaside village and return it before March 1 for entry into a special prize draw.

Entry forms can be picked up from 'Eleven' on Ocean Square, or Elements of Pembrokeshire and Periwinkle Pottery on The Strand.

Fill in your name and contact details if you want to be entered into a prize draw to win a gift voucher for a pottery painting session.

“Each of the hearts you’ll see is decorated with plastic pieces picked up off Saundersfoot’s beaches,” said a spokesperson for the Beach Heart Project.

“None of these items belong in the sea and because they take hundreds of years to decompose, they break up into smaller pieces and microplastics which get eaten by wildlife which can prove very deadly for them.

“Ocean plastic is a huge global problem but every single piece of plastic picked up and taken off a beach helps to protect the environment and protects wildlife from the impacts of plastic pollution,” they added, with the message to be highlighted being: ‘Rethink - refuse - reduce - reuse - repair - recycle’.

The pink heart pictured is made up from - 4 cotton bud sticks; 1 straw; 1 bung; 1 ‘Squeeze it’ bottle cap; 1 hair curler; 1 bottle top; 1 pen lid; part of a broken toy spade; 1 size cube; 1 button; part of an ice cream spoon; along with pieces of plastic that are so broken that they can’t be identified.

The problem of plastics washing up on beaches effects not just Pembrokeshire, but areas all over the world. The accompanying video was shot on Sunday (February 19) morning, showing Penally resident John who regularly litter picks the Tenby/Penally beaches, with his haul at low tide that morning, covering over a 500 metre stretch!

For more information head to The Beach Heart Project page on Facebook.