British Science Festival heads to Hull

The British Science Festival, Europe’s longest standing science Festival, has got underway in Hull today.

Experts from across the country are visiting Hull University for the four day event held between 11-14 September.

It's the first time the festival's been held in the city and one of the big focuses this year will be plastic pollution.

A giant sea turtle made with plastic collected from the local area has been unveiled at the University of Hull to coincide with the festival and get people thinking about the amount they're wasting.

The sculpture stands 3.5 metres tall and 4.5 metres wide and has been specially commissioned by the University with the aim of asking visitors to the four-day event to take a moment to think how they could reduce their own plastic waste.

Professor Dan Parsons, Director of the University’s Energy and Environment Institute, said: “Marine pollution is a mounting global challenge, which is already having devastating consequences. We have a duty to protect these fragile environments and the marine life and ecosystems which call them home. The University has commissioned this installation as a physical reminder of what is ending up in the oceans, but also to ask visitors to campus to stop and think what they could do to try to reduce their own waste.

“Without action, we will be depriving future generations of the beauty of the oceans, as well as facing the reality that some species will not survive this damage. It really is time to act now, and at the University of Hull, we are taking a stand.”

An estimated 12 million tonnes of plastic waste enters our oceans each year.

To find out more about what's happening at the British Science Festival this week, head to: https://www.britishsciencefestival.org/