‘Philup the fish’ will gobble up plastic in Westward Ho!

A giant plastic-gobbling fish has been unveiled at Westward Ho! to raise awareness of plastic pollution.

'Philup the fish' was officially opened by Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox in a day of plastic-free events on Saturday.

The steel fish was installed on the promenade by John and Julie Martin, of The Carousel Amusements, and the idea is people can recycle their plastic bottles in his belly.

The plastic will then be recycled Torridge District Council, instead of going to landfill or ending up as litter.

Mr Martin said: "We were one of the first take-aways in Westward Ho! to go 'plastic free' and since then loads of others have followed suit.

"It has just been tremendous to see. So we were trying to think, what can we do next to stop all this plastic ending up on the beach?"

The fish is already starting to fill up and Mr Martin said he was delighted to see it in use.

Mr Cox expressed his support for the initiative and said: "The movement to dramatically reduce our consumption of single use plastic items is backed widely by our seaside communities and is growing throughout the world.

"I was so pleased to see Westward Ho, not for the first time, pioneering the way for others with the superb plastic free fayre and Philup the plastic eating fish."

The day of events also include a beach clean and a plastic free fair at The Pier House, which also opened by Mr Cox.