A Year of Plastic is a project that was started after photographer/marine artist Sarah Thornington realized the sheer quantity of plastic marine debris she was picking up on a regular basis from Cape Cod beaches.

Thornington spent a year doing a beach clean-up every single day, counting and documenting the plastic debris she found, inlcuding daily posts on her Instagram account, @AYearofPlastic. To raise awareness on the plastic debris problem, Thornington creates art, photographs, and displays with some of the 21,000 objects she found during that time, always adding to her art supplies through new clean ups.

The public is invited to join Thornington, who will be hosted by C.H. Booth Library for a free program via Zoom on Monday, July 19, at 6:30 pm.

Thornington plans to talk about sorting, counting and cleaning the debris, along with interesting things she found, like a tiny astronaut figurine from the 60s.

Attendees will learn why she started, what she learned, and what it's like one's your basement when one cleans, stores and counts almost 21,000 pieces of plastic.

Thornington will additionally share tips and ideas to reduce plastic use along with interesting stats and information about this nation’s plastic use. Thornington will offer inspiration to reduce, re-reuse and recycle and get creative with items most people already have at home.

See some of the treasures she has created from items that were thrown away, and the fascination people have with her art and creative ideas. She has created mosaics, and multi-media pieces by combining found plastics with her own photographs and also weaving with "ghost gear."

Thornington is a portrait photographer/marine debris artist who has lived on Cape Cod for more than 30 years. A passionate protector of the planet, she can often be found cleaning the beaches, or creating with the debris found to help keep awareness on our single-use plastic problem.

She has completed both the expert and leadership tracks of the UN Environment Massive Online Open Course on Marine Debris. Her work can be found in homes across the country and abroad.

Registration is required in order to receive the Zoom link for Monday evening. Visit chboothlibrary.org for more information.