A HUGE tangle of plastic fishing nets, ropes and floats washed up on a beach in Cornwall is being turned into gifts and Christmas decorations.

The haul, estimated to weigh over four tonnes, was retrieved from Polkerris Beach in St Austell Bay by the Behaviour Change Cornwall business.

Founder Sam Gill and his team got the twisted mass of debris off the beach before the sea could reclaim it, racing to cut it into moveable sections ahead of the tide coming in.

A spokesperson for the business said: “Why is it important to take these nets out the sea? It’s because lost fishing nets like these are one of the most deadly forms of plastic found on UK beaches, called ghost fishing gear – because once lost they ‘haunt’ the ocean.

“Designed to kill, these ghost fishing nets are still lethal after being lost, acting as a malicious scythe reaping vast numbers of marine creatures – killing dolphins, whales, seabirds and fish – only to end up breaking down and bio-accumulating as micro-plastic into the bodies of wildlife and getting into us humans in our food.”

Sam said: “Although the problem at times can feel overwhelming, we take pride in the fact we are transforming trash into treasure, making completely unique products where no two can ever be exactly alike, rejecting the idea of mass production.

“Whilst we, alone, will never recycle or recover it all, each bit we can recycle in our workspace here in the Fowey Valley is helping save marine life.”

The business is creating bracelets, jewellery, coasters, keyrings and Christmas decorations from the material it takes off beaches.

Each purchase of the recycled creations, via the www.behaviourchangecornwall.co.uk website, helps to fund the business’s work of not only recovering litter from beaches but of also finding new ways in which to recycle it.