The 6-metre-long fish sculpture which landed in Poole in April to highlight the problem of ocean plastic pollution now has a name. Of 240 suggestions submitted, ‘Wanda the Waste Warrior Fish’ was the overwhelming favourite.
Wanda will soon be travelling on around the Bournemouth Christchurch Poole area to highlight the harm caused by marine plastic and encourage people to bring their own reusables and refill and reuse instead of throwing away. And following a meeting last month Sustainable Wareham are working up a plan for Wanda to spread the word in Wareham too – and possibly other venues for a ‘Purbeck tour.’
Wanda heads up a campaign by local groups, businesses and BCP Council to spread the Reuse, Refill and Reduce message.
Julia Davies, founder of We Have The POWER who helped fund Wanda, said: “It’s great to see Wanda the Waste Warrior Fish spreading the Reuse, Refill and Reduce message. Single use bottles and cups are just rubbish and we urgently need to turn down the tap on the amount of single use waste.
There is no “away” and we need to stop thinking that it’s better to ship a plastic cup half way around the World, use it once, then bin, creating a long term waste problem, rather than good old washing up!
Older generations didn’t cause waste like this and we need to get back to their less wasteful way of living. Single use plastic is not only rubbish – it is also fossil fuels – so we need to use a lot less of it to tackle the Climate Emergency. Let’s take a lesson from our older generations and use our own refillable water bottles, containers and cups on trips to our beaches and parks.”
Every year:-
- 14 billion plastic drinks bottles are bought in the UK
- 12 Million tonnes of plastic end up in our ocean! That’s like a rubbish truck every minute!
- 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution
For more information about Wanda the Waste Warrior Fish visit –