Youth Justice Service shows impact of plastic through art

Published Tuesday, 23rd April 2019

Youth Justice Service members have shown how much they #LoveHartlepool by using waste collected to create a collage showing the devastating impact of plastic on the environment.

The service, which works with young people ages 10 to 18, regularly undertakes free reparation projects to give something back to the local community.

Artwork 2

Its most recent project focussed on Keep Britain Tidy’s national Great British Spring Clean campaign, supported locally by the Love Hartlepool campaign.

The group organised a beach clean to gather waste plastic and materials, which they then used to produce a collage depicting a crashing tidal wave of waste, aiming to highlight the detrimental impact of plastic waste on beaches and sea life.

YJS artwork

Emma Fleetham, Hartlepool Borough Council’s Youth Justice Officer, said: “As part of the community orders and programmes that our young people take part in, we carry out Reparation, which is aimed at putting something back into the Community. 

“We took a number of young people out for a beach clean and from the plastics and other rubbish that was collected, the group produced a collage with a sea theme to highlight the concerns of plastic pollution to the environment.

“This piece of work is an excellent achievement that the young people involved and the service are proud of, they have all worked very well together to use the collection of the rubbish to reach the final product.”

Members of the public are encouraged to view the artwork now on display at ARTRIUM in Middleton Grange Shopping Centre (near Wilkinsons) until Sunday 28 April.

Supported by the town-wide ‘Love Hartlepool’ campaign, an interactive map showing the date, times and locations of litter picks happening across the borough as part of the Great British Spring Clean campaign can be viewed at www.hartlepool.gov.uk/gbspringclean19