Marks & Spencer launches Beach Clean frisbee
Marks & Spencer has launched a toy frisbee made from recycled plastic including plastic collected by its customers and employees at its Big Beach Clean-Up event last year.
The product is made from regenerated litter such as plastic cups, fishing tackle and bottle tops.
Launching in time for this year’s Big Beach Clean-Up, which will run from today until the 30 April, the toy is being sold online and in six coastal stores in Belfast, Bexhill, Lytham St Annes, Silverlink Retail Park, Weston Super Mare and Edinburgh. M&S is donating 50p from the sale of each toy to the Marine Conservation Society.
Mike Barry, director of the retailer’s Plan A eco and ethical programme, said: “We’ve managed to transform waste, taking it off beaches where it threatens marine life, into a brand new product that is fun for our customers and raises money for MCS’ on-going work to protect our seas. That’s Plan A in action, a volunteer event that engages customers, saves precious raw materials and gives back to charity – all with a business case behind it.”
Last April thousands of M&S customers and employees helped clean over 300km of coastline. To find out if M&S could collect and make a product from the beach litter, the plastic from six of the beaches was segregated, cleaned and reprocessed into production ready recycled plastic.
The project was supported by two UK firms. Recycling specialist Axion Polymers transformed the litter into product grade recycled plastic while Make a Material Difference created and manufactured the finished product.
This year’s M&S Big Beach Clean-up will clean 140 UK beaches and canals with the aim of exceeding last year’s haul of 30 tonnes of litter.
