'Flip-Flotsam and Jetsam'

Back in 2011 Nick Gant and Tanya Dean worked with community volunteers and the Marine Conservation Society's beach clean up campaign to remove waste from the marine environment. Moreover it used that material to create new material value and social value through participation in community making.

By remaking the plastic gathered from the beach into a the a pair of flip-flops using a 'pop-up-press' community makers are rewarded with a piece of local history in the form of a local cultural souvenir.

The project not only helps to support engagement and participation in the clean up but elevates the material from pollution to a significant, meaningful signifier of a caring community.

The provenance of the flip-flops is further accentuated by heat pressing a map of the are into the sole as a grip but also a signifier of local authenticity!

Marine Conservation Society community volunteers

Pressed map sole

Collecting plastic pollution

Recycled marine plastic flip-flops

Plastic waste

Collected plastic waste