During 2021 and it's intermittent lockdowns there was the start of some hope that we might be able to banish Covid-19 and get on with a better future. We were travelling less, getting out in the fresh air and working from home, so there was a lot to be grateful for.

However, I was disappointed to see that the pandemic had reversed all progress on single-use plastic reduction, as everything had to be take-away and multi-wrapped to avoid contamination. As a result the waste seemed to be lining the streets in abundance and some community-minded friends of mine took to them to tackle the litter problem. They set up a Facebook group called the Litter Pick Challenge, and everyday during 2021 they went out, rain or shine to collect litter from the Pontypridd area.

During the summer, ice cream cones seemed to have been banned, favouring tubs and single use plastic spoons. So you can imagine the hundreds of bright coloured spoons that were discarded daily from popular outdoor spots. The aim of the Litter Pick Challenge is to re-use and recycle where possible, so the hundreds of spoons seemed worth keeping although not sure what for exactly.

Very quickly I saw the potential of them and asked the pickers to save them for me so I could turn them into a colourful table top, cast in resin.

This table became part of my exhibition of up-cycled furniture for a community project in the town of Porth in the South Wales Valleys. It was the perfect item to communicate what I was trying to say as an Artist, raise awareness about important environmental issues, save furniture from landfill and have pride in where we live. It was the perfect item to stimulate debate and amazed people with it's story. Plus it is very beautiful if I say so myself!

Although the table was my most popular item and many people offered to buy it, I felt it was too special to sell and needed to do something important.

Following the exhibition, I donated the table to the local children's library so they could use it as a place to raise awareness about plastics, litter and environmental issues. They are currently using it to deliver activities with the children and it is going on tour around the libraries in the area.

I couldn't fit any more spoons on the table, and I still have some left, so perhaps I'll make another one, one day.

By Bridie Doyle-Roberts (March 2022)

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