Litter tossed on the ground near water typically ends up washed or blown into creeks, rivers and bays. Ultimately, that litter ends up on beaches or in the ocean where it is referred to as marine debris.

The amount of marine debris entering the ocean each year is staggering- an estimated 11 million tons, most of it plastic. In addition to being unsightly, plastic is harmful to marine life, like sea turtles, through ingestion or entanglement (see photos).

To highlight this problem, Washed Ashore, a non-profit organization based in Oregon, has created a program that uses plastic collected from the marine environment to create large sea life sculptures. Their stated objective is “to illustrate the tragedy of plastic pollution in our oceans and waterways and to encourage conservation”. Their motto is “Art to save the sea”. So far, they have cleaned 300 miles of beaches to collect the 60,000 pounds of plastic that have been used to create over 80 works of art.

Through the efforts of the Park Board, Galveston has hosted several of these works of art, like Gumdrop Jelly Reef, displayed in front of the Grand Hotel Galvez, and Lidia the Seal, displayed in front of the Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens (see photos).

Now the Galveston Park Board has announced plans to employ an artist to create a Galveston sculpture made out of marine debris washed ashore on Galveston Island beaches. Plans are for this sculpture to be ready for display by November 2025.

To learn more about Washed Ashore and marine debris, visit www.washedashore.org., and to learn more about reducing your plastic waste, visit www.plasticfreejuly.org.