A piece of Lego believed to have been swept off a cargo ship more than 20 years ago in Cornwall has been found on St Bees beach.
The plant-shaped toy was discovered during a beach clean up and is thought to have been one of 4.8 million pieces lost when the Tokio Express cargo ship was struck by a huge wave.
Plastics at sea
Colourful Coast Partnership, which found the piece during January’s clean-up, say this lego highlights how marine waste and litter floats around for years, posing a risk to wildlife.
Project officer Sophie Badrick said: “About half-a-dozen people turned up to the beach clean. It was me who found the Lego piece and I got quite excited as it was quite unusual. I suspected it was part of the spill and when I got home I looked what was in the spill.”
“It’s possible that our tiny piece of Lego sea grass has been bobbing about in the ocean, not breaking down, being nibbled by fish and other marine creatures for over 20 years before drifting ashore on our coast to, finally, be found in a beach clean and stop being part of the marine pollution problem.”
“Plastic in the sea doesn’t just decompose, or go away.”
Lego at sea
The Tokio Express was bound to reach New York from Rotterdam, when it was struck by a giant wave on 13 February 1997. The freighter was about 20 miles off Land’s End when 62 containers fell aboard in 1997.
It was ramping back and forth at such a sharp degree, it lost 62 containers. One of those was full of Lego kits with many of the pieces being marine themed, such as flippers, octopuses and seagrass.
The Colourful Coast Partnership carries out monthly beach cleans at either Whitehaven or St Bees.
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Source: News & Star
